THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


The  36th  Fern  ley  Lecture 

PERSECUTION 
IN   THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

A  CHAPTEE  IN  THE  HISTORY  OP 
RENUNCIATION 


BY 

HERBERT  B.  WORKMAN,  M.A. 

PRINCIPAL  OF  WESTMINSTER  TRAINING  COLLEGE 

AUTHOR  OF 

THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  WEST  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES,"   "  THE  DAWN  OP  THE 
REFORMATION,"  AND  "  THE  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  BUS  " 


Cincinnati 
JENNINGS  &  GRAHAM 


GIFT 


MY    WIFE 

WHOSE   LOVE 

MAKES   LABOUR    LIGHT 

AND 
DOUBLES   ALL   LIFE'S   JOYS 


BRltot 


PREFACE 

OF  the  following  pages  the  lecture  actually  delivered 
consisted  of  Chapter  I.,  §  1,  and  of  the  whole  of 
Chapter  V.  These  sections  I  have  printed  unaltered. 
This  will  explain  a  few  slight  repetitions,  as  also  cer- 
tain hortatory  paragraphs  not  strictly  in  keeping  with 
an  historical  work. 

The  subject  of  persecution  in  the  early  Church, 
treated  as  a  whole,  has  been  somewhat  neglected  by 
English  writers.  The  legal  aspects  of  the  matter,  the 
relations  of  the  Church  to  the  Empire,  and  the  nature 
of  the  courts  and  procedure  by  which  the  Christians 
were  condemned  have  been  fully  dealt  with  in  the  re- 
searches of  Eamsay,  Hardy,  and  others,  who  approve 
on  the  whole  of  the  judgement  of  Mommsen.  The 
opposite  view,  though  still  maintained  by  certain 
writers  of  repute  (see  infra,  Appendix  E),  has  not  found 
any  English  historian,  so  far  as  I  know,  to  defend 
it  at  length.  Persecution  also,  treated  merely  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  Church,  the  experiences  of  the 
martyrs,  has,  of  course,  never  lacked  presentation  in 
this  country  from  the  days  of  Foxe  onward.  Such 
works,  as  a  rule  written  for  edification,  are  generally 


326 


v  PEEFACE 

too  uncritical  to  serve  the  student.1  Moreover,  it  is 
impossible  adequately  to  present  a  subject  by  treating 
it  merely  from  within,  especially  when,  as  is  the  case 
with  persecution,  it  can  only  be  understood  by  taking 
into  account  all  the  factors  both  in  the  inner  life  and 
outer  environment  to  which  it  was  due. 

Such  a  treatment  of  the  subject  as  a  whole,  in 
its  legal,  historical,  ecclesiastical,  and  experiential 
aspects,  is  what  I  have  attempted  in  the  following 
pages.  In  extenuation  of  deficiency  I  may  plead 
the  narrow  limits  within  which  I  have  been  forced 
to  compress  a  subject  that  might  well  have  been 
expanded  into  several  volumes.  But  the  severe 
compression  may  have  the  advantage  of  obtaining 
readers  who  could  not  be  induced  to  study  a  larger 
work.  While  I  trust  that  no  aspect  of  the  subject 
has  been  neglected,  special  attention  has  been  drawn 
to  those  aspects  of  the  inner  life  of  the  Church  which 
led  to  persecution.  In  writing  this  section  I  gladly 
acknowledge  indebtedness  to  Harnack's  Expansion  of 
Christianity  for  many  suggestions.  On  the  legal  ques- 
tion I  have  followed  in  the  main  the  lead  of  Mommsen, 
Eamsay,  and  Hardy,  with  the  qualification  to  which 
I  refer  further  in  Appendix  E.  As  regards  historical 
matters,  I  have  drawn  attention  in  the  notes  to  the 
works  of  Mommsen,  Schiller,  Marquardt,  Bury,  and 
others  who  have  shed  so  much  light  on  the  Koman 
provinces  and  their  government  under  the  Empire. 

1  One  of  the  most  recent,  A.  J.  Mason,  The  Historic  Martyrs  (1905) 
is  constructed  on  a  plan  so  different  to  the  one  I  have  adopted  that  the 
work  might  be  used  as  complementary  to  this  lecture. 


PREFACE  vii 

Unfortunately,  Koman  history,  as  taught  in  schools 
and  colleges,  owing  to  the  narrow  range  of  works 
read  as  classics,  too  often  stops  short  with  the 
establishment  of  the  Principate. 

My  greatest  difficulty,  as  must  be  the  case  with 
all  writers  on  the  subject,  has  been  the  critical.  The 
examination  of  the  historical  value  of  the  many  Acts 
of  the  martyrs  is  indispensable,  and  on  the  Continent 
has  been  dealt  with  from  many  different  standpoints 
by  such  writers  as  v.  Gebhardt,  Euinart,  de  Rossi, 
Neumann,  Preuschen,  Aube,  Allard,  Franchi  de* 
Cavalieri,  Le  Blant,  to  say  nothing  of  the  labours  of 
the  Bollandists,  and  of  the  writers  in  the  Analecta 
Bollandiana.  In  England  isolated  Acts  have  been 
treated  by  Lightfoot,  Conybeare,  Healy,  Mason,  and 
Gregg  as  part  of  their  investigation  of  certain  limited 
periods.  In  this  matter,  the  very  crux  of  the  whole 
subject,  I  have  weighed  each  case  for  myself,  and 
settled  to  what  extent  I  could  accept  its  historicity 
whether  in  whole  or  part.  Unfortunately,  my  limits 
of  space  have  made  it  impossible  for  me,  as  a  rule,  to 
give  the  reasons  for  decision,  though  I  have  usually 
given  references  to  works  in  which  the  matter  is 
discussed.  In  many  cases,  all  that  can  be  claimed 
for  the  view  adopted  is  a  certain  measure  of  probability, 
or  even  of  possibility.  This  last,  for  instance,  is  all 
that  can  be  urged  for  the  history  of  St.  John  that 
I  have  given  in  the  text.  Some  of  my  readers  may 
perhaps  consider  that,  on  the  whole,  I  incline  too 
much  to  accept  what  many  Protestants  have  been 
accustomed  to  dismiss  as  valueless  tradition.  Others, 


Viii  PKEFAOB 

again,  may  blame  me  that  I  have  followed  in  some 
cases  the  critical  lead  of  Aube  and  Harnack.  The 
middle  position  I  have  adopted  corresponds  largely  to 
the  middle  position  I  hold  in  other  critical  matters. 
In  fact,  speaking  merely  as  a  historian,  I  think  the 
same  principles  must  be  applied  in  the  treatment 
of  every  problem  of  criticism,  whether  in  the  New 
Testament,  in  literature,  or  history  in  general,  or  in 
the  Acts  of  the  martyrs.  Tradition  seems  to  me  to 
have  a  value  which  is  too  often  neglected,  unless, 
indeed,  the  origin  of  that  tradition  can  be  duly  ex- 
plained. But  the  estimate  of  the  value  of  tradition 
and  its  limitations  is  too  large  a  theme  upon  which  to 
enter  in  a  preface.  I  have  pointed  out  in  my  notes 
many  instances  where  tradition  has  preserved,  some- 
times in  a  distorted  fashion,  some  historical  re- 
membrance ;  many  instances,  also,  where  it  is  but 
the  result  of  "  tendency  "  expressing  itself  in  concrete 
and  picturesque  form. 

Some  critics  may  complain  that  in  my  notes,  in 
spite  of  the  limitations  of  space,  I  have  occasionally 
introduced  some  matters  only  indirectly,  at  first  sight, 
connected  with  persecution.  In  every  case  I  have 
done  so  designedly.  The  emphasis  of  the  unity  and 
continuity  of  all  knowledge  seems  to  me  of  the  utmost 
importance,  especially  in  the  case  of  young  students. 
Especially  is  this  necessary  in  the  study  of  Church 
history,  the  danger  of  which  is  too  often  a  certain 
abstraction  leading  to  a  false  detachment  of  the  life 
and  theology  of  the  Church  from  the  social  and 
political  environment  amidst  which  it  grew  up,  and 


PREFACE  IX 

by  which  it  was  more  profoundly  influenced  than 
some  theologians  are  wont  to  acknowledge.  To  this 
interdependence  I  have  more  than  once  designedly 
drawn  attention. 

As  regards  the  notes  in  general,  the  preparation 
of  which  has  involved  months  of  toil,  I  am  sorry 
that  my  limitations  have  prevented  me  quoting  the 
salient  passages  in  the  Fathers  and  classical  writers. 
But  no  reference  has  been  given  the  value  and 
pertinence  of  which  has  not  been  duly  weighed. 
May  I  plead  with  young  students,  especially  in  my 
own  Church,  that  they  take  some  of  the  notes  and 
work  through  them  systematically  ?  They  will  learn 
more  from  this  means  than  from  any  mere  reading 
of  the  text.  Such  a  plan  means  work,  but  after  all 
the  verification  of  a  note  is  a  light  task  compared 
with  the  task  involved  in  writing  in  the  first  instance. 
His  slight  acquaintance  with  Greek  or  Latin  should 
not  deter  the  reader.  With  the  many  excellent  trans- 
lations of  classical  writers  and  of  the  Fathers  now 
accessible  (e.g.  Clark's  ANCLi),1  a  rough  but  service- 
able acquaintance  at  first  hand  may  be  easily  acquired. 
This  will  be  made  the  more  valuable  if  in  certain 
more  difficult  or  ambiguous  passages  direct  reference 
is  made  to  good  editions  of  the  original.  As  regards 
the  Acts  of  martyrs,  the  student  cannot  do  better  than 
keep  at  his  side  the  cheap  but  excellent  selection  in 
v.  Gebhardt's  AMS.  Kuinart  AM  and  the  vast  ASS 
are  for  the  expert  only.  I  may  add  that  quotations 

1  Bolm's  EuseMus  is  a  very  poor  translation,  but  better  than  none. 
The  best  is  by  A.  C.  McGiffert. 

a  2 


X  PREFACE 

from  original  sources  are  always  enclosed  in  '  '; 
other  quotations  are  marked  "  ". 

I  have  ended  my  survey  with  the  (alleged)  Edict 
of  Milan.  All  divisions  of  time  are  more  or  less 
arbitrary,  and  the  Edict  of  Milan  was  certainly  not 
the  end  of  persecution.  On  the  other  hand,  to  have 
continued  to  the  triumph  of  Constantine  over  Licinian 
would  have  introduced  new  factors  that  belong  more 
strictly  to  a  new  chapter  in  the  world's  history. 

If  this  little  volume  should  in  any  way  assist  in 
reviving  the  interest  of  the  Church  in  its  early  heroes, 
above  all,  if  it  should  point  once  more  to  the  need  of 
a  greater  measure  of  renunciation  as  the  essential 
condition  of  all  successful  aggression — a  renuncia- 
tion as  necessary  to-day,  though  under  different 
forms,  as  in  the  first  struggle  between  the  Church 
and  the  World — I  shall  feel  that  I  have  obtained  a 
full  reward. 


WESTMINSTER, 

July,  1906. 


PEEFACE    OF    THE   SECOND    EDITION 

THE  rapid  exhaustion  of  the  first  edition  has  not 
allowed  me  to  do  more  than  correct  certain  obvious 
errors  and  slips,  and  here  and  there  to  add  or  change 
the  reference.  The  one  alteration  of  moment  will 
be  found  on  p.  35.  My  friend,  Mr.  F,  Eichards,  M.A., 
of  Kingswood  School,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  a 
list  of  errata,  has  pointed  out  to  me  that  the  idea 
that  St.  Paul  may  have  been  tried  before  Burrus, 
the  prefect  of  the  Pretorian  Guard,  is  the  ante-dating 
of  a  second-century  change  in  legal  procedure.  In 
the  absence  of  Nero  St.  Paul  would  be  tried  before, 
the  praetor  of  the  city. 

Dr.  Bigg,  of  Oxford,  has  favoured  me  with  a 
criticism  of  the  view  maintained  on  pp.  41,  64  n. 
that  St.  Paul  was  beheaded  as  one  of  the  honestiores. 
He  holds  that  the  honestiores  were  limited  to  the 
decurionate,  and  all  ranks  above,  and  that  a  provincial 
civis  Romanus  could  not  claim  its  privileges.  "In 
the  time  of  Petronius  we  find  a  clear  distinction 
between  the  decurions,  and  the  augustales  and  poor 
class  (collegia  tenuiorum)  below  them."  Dr.  Bigg 
further  holds  that  I  have  "let  off  Marcus  Aurelius 
too  lightly."  He  adduces  evidence  in  support  of  the 
view  that  Marcus  changed  the  right  of  appeal  from 


xii  PREFACE  OF  THE  SECOND  EDITION 

the  civis  to  the  honestior  alone  {Hist.  August.  Marci 
Vita  24,  taken  with  Marcus'  action  in  rejecting  the 
appeal  of  the  cives  at  Lyons  (Euseb.  HE  v  i  44,  47) 
and  condemning  them  with  the  other  Christians,  "  a 
thing  as  yet  unheard  of"].  In  this  last  matter  I 
think  Dr.  Bigg  is  right,  and  that  it  is  a  severe 
indictment  of  Marcus'  treatment  of  the  Christians. 
But  I  cannot  think  that  Dr.  Bigg  has  shown  that 
in  a  city  of  Asia  in  the  early  days  of  the  Principate, 
a  civis  Romanus  was  not  looked  upon  as  one  of  the 
local  aristocracy,  the  equal  of  any  decurion.  More- 
over, at  Lyons  the  cives,  except  Attalus,  were  heheaded, 
not  thrown  to  the  beasts  (Euseb.  HE  v  1,  47). 

I  have  incorporated  in  the  notes  of  this  edition 
one  or  two  references  to  Dr.  Swete's  Apocalypse  (Oct. 
1906).  Dr.  Swete  seems  to  me  to  fail  completely  in 
establishing  a  late  date  for  the  Apocalypse;  nor  do 
I  think  it  is  possible  to  allow  the  question  of  its 
authorship  and  its  relation  to  the  Gospel  to  remain 
so  undetermined  as  Dr.  Swete  has  left  it.  I  am  glad 
to  add  that  Mr.  Anderson  Scott,  whose  work  on  the 
Apocalypse  is  well  known,  tells  me  that  he  has  become 
convinced  of  its  early  date. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  publication  of 
this  lecture  a  work  of  some  importance  on  the  same 
subject  appeared  in  Germany.1  The  conclusions 
reached  are  much  the  same. 

WESTMINSTER  TRAINING  COLLEGE, 
November  15, 190G. 

1  A.  Linsenmayer,  Die  Bekampfung  der  Xtentums  durch  den  rom 
Staat  bis  turn  Tode  dcs  Kaisers  Julian  (Munich,  1905). 


CONTENTS 


PAGES 

ABBREVIATIONS  AND  EDITIONS xv-xx 

CHAPTER     I. — THE  MASTER  AND  His  DISCIPLES        .  1-48 

„         II.— CAESAR  OR  CHRIST       ....  49-104 

„        III.— THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED      .        .        .  105-196 

M        IV.— THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS   .        .        .  197-282 

„          V.— THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED  283-352 

APPENDIX  A. — THE  DATES  AND  AUTHORSHIP  OF  CERTAIN 

DISPUTED  WORKS        ....  354-358 

„         B. — THE  ALLEGED  MARTYRDOM  OF  ST.  JOHN 

IN  A.D.  44 358-361 

„        C. — THE   MARTYRDOM   OF   ST.   PETER   AND 

ST.  PAUL 362-364 

„        D. — THE  PERSECUTION  OF  NERO          .        .  364-365 
„        JB. — THE  LAWS  UNDER  WHICH  CHRISTIANS 

V    <                WERE   CONDEMNED          ....  365-366 

„         F. — THE  POPULATION  OF  THE  EMPIRE  ;  THE 
PROPORTION  OF  CHRISTIANS;  AND  THE 

NUMBER  OF  MARTYRS          .        .        .  367-369 

„        G.  -  THE    APOLOGIES    OF    ARISTIDES    AND 

QUADRATUS 369-371 

„        H. — THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  WOMEN       .        .  371 

„         J. — THE  FATHERS  AND  THE  EMPIRE    .        .  372 

CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE          .        .        .        .        .        .  373-377 

INDEX   .  378 


ABBREVIATIONS  AND  EDITIONS 


N.B.— Works  whose  titles  are  fully  quoted  in  the  notes  are  not  given  in  this 
list.  The  abbreviations  and  editions  of  classical  and  patristic  writers  are  not 
given.  They  are  familiar  to  all  students,  or  easily  accessible.  For  patristic 
writers  the  student  may  consult  Swete's  Patristic  Study.  My  references  are, 
as  a  rule,  to  the  edition  of  Migne.  In  a  few  cases,  however,  I  have  quoted  the 
superior  CSELt  notably  in  the  epistles  of  Cyprian.  As  the  numbering  in  this 
edition  is  very  different  from  that  of  Migne  (adopted  in  Clark's  ANCL),  care 
should  be  taken  in  verification.  The  Histvriae  Augustae  (Leyden,  1671,  2  vols.) 
I  have  always  quoted  by  the  separate  writers,  Lampridius,  Vopiscus,  Pollio,  &c. 


AM 
AAA 

C.  J.  Arnold  NO 
Anal  Boll. 
Paul  Allard  I.  HP 
II.  HP 


III.  HP 


B.  Aub6  EE 
„       PE 

A.SS 


See  Ruinart. 

Acta    Apostolorum    Apocrypha.      See 

Lipsius  and  Bonnet ;  Tischendorf. 
Die      Neronische      Christenverfolgung 

(Leipzig,  1888). 
Analecta  Bollandiana   (Brussels;    in 

progress). 
Hut.  des  Persecutions  pendant  les  deux 

premiers  Siecles  (Paris,  1892, 2nd  ed.). 
Hist,    des    Persecutions    pendant    la 

premiere  moitifdu  iiie  Siecle  (Paris, 

1894,  2nd  ed.). 
Les   dernieres    Persecutions  du   Trot- 

sieme  Siecle  (2nd  ed.  1898). 
L'figlise  et  L'fitat  dans  la  seconde  moitie 

du  iiie  Siecle  (Paris,  1886,  2nd  ed.). 
Hist,  des  Persecutions  deL'rfglisejusqu'a 

la  fin    de»  Antonins  (Paris,   1875, 

2nd  ed.). 

Acta  Sanctorum,  i.e.  the  great  incom- 
plete Bollandist  collection.     Quoted 

by  the  month  and  its  volume  (e.g. 

June  v  =  5th  vol.  of  June). 


XVI 


ABBREVIATIONS  AND  EDITIONS 


C.  Bigg  CTRE 

G.  Boissier  FP 
V.  Bartlet  AA 
Clark  ANCL 

CSEL 

CIL 

F.  Conybeare  MEC 

F.  Cumont  TM 
V.  Duruy  HR 

A.  W.  Dale  SE 
L.  Duchesne  LP 

FEG 

S.  Dill  RSNA 
„    ESJF# 

Dig. 
DB 
DCB 

DCA 

J.  Drummond  FG 


Church's  Task  in  the  Roman  Empire 
(Oxford,  1905). 

Fin  du  Paganisme  (Paris,  1891 ;  2  vols.) 
Apostolic  Age  (Edinburgh,  1900). 

Ante-Nicene  Christian  Library  (Edin- 
burgh). 

Corpus  Scriptorum  Ecclesiasticorum 
Latinorum  (Vienna ;  in  progress). 

Corpus  Inscriptionum  Latinorum. 

Monuments  of  Early  CJiristianity  (Lon- 
don, 1894). 
See  infra  p.  81,  n. 

Histoire   des    Remains  (Paris,   1871  ; 

Eng.    trans,     by    J.    P.    Mahaffy, 

London,  1885 ;  6  vols.). 
Synod  of  Elvira  (London,  1882). 

Le  Liber  Pontificalis  (Paris,  1886 ;  2 

TOls.). 

Pastes    Episcopaux  de  Gaule  (Paris, 

1894 ;  2  vols.). 
Roman  Society  from  Nero   to  Marcus 

Aurelius  (London,  1st  ed.  1904). 
Roman  Society  in  the  latst  Century  of 

the   Western  Empire  (London,  2nd 

ed.,  1899). 
For  the  Digest.  Juris  Cm7ts,ed.  Kruegcr 

and  Mommsen  (Berlin,  1889;  vol.i.). 
Hastings'    Dictionary    of    the    Bible 

(Edinburgh,  1898  ff. ;  5  vols.). 
Smith  and  Waoe,  Dictionary  of  Chris- 
tian   Biography  (London,  1877;  4 

vols.). 
Smith  and  Cheetham,  Dictionary  of 

Christian  Antiquities  (London,  1875 ; 

2  vols.). 
Character  and  Auihorehip  of  the  Fourth 

Gospel  (London,  1903;, 


ABBREVIATIONS  AND  EDITIONS 
EB 

F.  W.  Farrar  EDC 


Geb. 

K  G.  Hardy  CEG 

J.  A.  F.  Gregg  DP 
F.  J.  A.  Hort  JC 
A.  Harnack  C-1L 


M        J/C 
B.  W.  Henderson  P.V 

P.  J.  Healy  FP 
E.  Lanciani  PC^ 
Lipeius  &  Bonnet  AAA 
Lactantins  IIP 

LncianPP 
J.  B.  Lightt 


MH  .  I 


4*  A.  ILL). 


is  z;t 


:  B:-  LI-LI;;,.;* 
F*r:  II  ^ 


XV111 


ABBKEVIATIONS  AND  EDITIONS 


E.  Le  Blant  SAM 


ICG 
C.  Merivale  RE 

T.  Mommsen  PEE 


Migne  PL  &  PG 

A.  J.  Mason  PD 
J.  Moffatt  HNT 
C.  J.  Neumann  RSK 

N.  &  B.  RS 

Palladius  HL 
Paul.  Sent. 


Supplement  aux  Acta  Martyr um  Sin- 
cera;  in  Mfmoiret  de  Literature 
(1881,  vol.  30). 

N.B.— The  chief  contents  of  the  above 
are  more  accessible  in  Le  Blant's 
Les  Persecuteurs  et  les  Martyrs  (Paris, 
1893),  a  work  1  had  not  met  with 
until  this  lecture  was  in  print. 

Inscriptions  Christianae  Galliae. 

Romans  under  the  Empire  (new  ed., 

1890 ;  8  vols.). 
Provinces     of    the     Roman     Empire 

(London,  1886 ;  2  vols.). 

N.B. — In  German  works  quoted  as 
vol.  5  of  his  History  of  Kome. 

Patrologia  Latina  and  Patrologia 
Graeca.  I  have  quoted  the  number 
of  the  volume  and  the  column  (not 
the  section). 

The  Persecution  of  Diocletian  (London, 
1876). 

Historical  New  Testament  (Edinburgh, 
1st  ed.,  1901). 

Der  Romische  Staat  and  die  allgemeine 

Kirche  (Leipzig,  1890;  vol.  i.  only 

published). 
J.  S.  Northcote  and  W.  R.  Brownlow, 

Roma   Sotterranea  (London,  1879 ; 

2  vols.). 

Historia  Lausiaca  (Migne  PL,  Ixxiii.). 

Julius  Paulus  Sententiae.  The  best 
edition  is  that  by  Mommsen,  Krueger, 
and  Studemund,  Collectio  lib.  Juris 
antejustiniani  (Berlin,  1891).  A  con- 
venient edition  is  that  by  Huschke 
in  the  Teubner  Texts,  Reliquiae 
Jurisprudentiae  Antejustinianae 
(Leipzig,  1879,  4th  ed.). 


ABBREVIATIONS  ANT)  EDITIONS 


XIX 


E.  Renan  L'Ant. 
n        Erang. 


„       EG 
MA 


Sir  W.  Ramsay  CEP 
„  „       ChE 

„  „       PT 

„       SC 

Chev.  G.  B.  de  Rossi  RS 

„       ICUR 
Ruinart  AM 


E.  Schurer  JPC 
H.  Schiller  EK 

E.  C.  Selwyn  CP 
C.  Tischendorf  EA 
„  AAA 


L'AHteehrist. 

La  Ecang&es  at  la  tcconde  generation 
Chrelienne. 

ISEglise  Chrelienne. 

Marc  Aurele  et  la  fin  du  monde  antique . 
All  the  aboye  volumes  of  his  Originc* 
du  Chrittianisme  I  have  quoted  from 
the  edition  of  Caiman  Le'ry  (Paris, 
1882). 

Cities  and  Bishopric*  of  Pkrygia 
(London,  1895-7;  2  yob.). 

The  Church  in  As  Roman  Empire 
(London).  I  have  uaed  the  third 
(1894)  edition. 

St.  Paul  the  Trareller  and  Roman 
Cititen  (London,  7th  ed.,  1903). 

The  Letters  to  the  Seven  Churchet 
(London,  1904). 

Roma  Sotterranea  (Rome,  1864-80,  4 
vols.). 

Inscription*  Chrittianae  Urbis  Romae 
(Borne,  1857). 

Ada  Martyrum  Sincera.  I  have  used 
the  second  edition  (Amsterdam, 
1713).  A  more  convenient  edition 
is  that  of  Ratisbon  now  reprinting. 
Unfortunately,  the  pagination  in  the 
different  editions  is  not  the  same. 

The  Jetrith  People  in  the  Time  of  Christ 
(E.  T.  Edin.,  1890,  5  vols.). 

Geschichte  de  RdmucKen  Kaiserteit 
(Gotha,  1883,  5  vote.). 

Christian  Prophets  (London,  1900). 
Etangelia  Apocrypha  (Leipzig,  1853> 

Ada  Apostolorum  Apocrypha  (Leipzig, 
1851> 


ABBREVIATIONS  AND  EDITIONS 


TS 
TU 

C.  J.  Tissot  PEA 

J.G.W.UhlhornCCMC 
Th.  Zahn  Ein. 

„        FGK 
B.  F.  Westcott  Ch.W 


Cambridge  Texts  and  Studies,  ed.  Dear 
Robinson  (in  progress).  Quoted  by 
volume  and  year. 

Texte  und  Untersuchungen  eur  Ges- 
chichte  der  Altchristlichen  Litteratur. 
Ed.  v.  G-ebhardt  and  A.  Harnack 
(in  progress).  Quoted  by  the 
volume  and  the  year. 

La  Province  Eomaine  D'Afrique  (Paris, 

1884-8;  2  vols.). 
See  infra,  177  n. 

Einleitung  in  das  Neue  Testament 
(Leipzig,  1900 ;  2  vols.). 

Forschung  zur  Geech.  des  N.  T.  Kanons 
und  der  altklrchlichen  Literatur 
(Leipzig,  1881-1902;  6  vols.).  Edited 
by  J.  Haussleiter  and  Thcodor  Zahn. 

Tlie  Church  and  the  World;  an  essay 
in  his  Ep.  John  (London,  1883). 


NOTE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION 

Hardy  CRG. — This  important  work  has  been  re-issued  (October, 
1905)  under  the  changed  title  of  Studies  in  Roman 
History.  It  contains  also,  on  pp.  236-283,  the 
article  on  "  Provincial  Concilia,"  to  which  reference 
is  made  infra  p.  96  n. 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES 


Thou !  if  Thou  wast  He,  who  at  mid  watch  came, 

By  the  star-light,  naming  a  dubious  name  I 

And  if,  too  heavy  with  sleep,  too  rash 

With,  fear— O  Thou,  if  that  martyr-gash 

Fell  on  Thee  coming  to  take  Thine  own, 

And  we  gave  the  Cross,  when  we  owed  the  Throne, 

Thou  art  the  Judge  I 

And  he  that  takcth  not  his  cross,  and  followeth  after  Me,  is  not 
worthy  of  Me.— Matt.  x.  38. 

A  glorious  band,  the  chosen  few 

On  whom  the  Spirit  came, 
Twelve  valiant  saints,  their  hope  they  knew 

And  mocked  the  cross  and  flame ; 
They  met  the  tyrant's  brandished  steel, 

The  lion's  gory  mane, 
They  bowed  their  necks,  the  death  to  feel : 

Who  follows  in  their  train  ? 


CONTENTS 

§  I,  p.  3.  Martyrdom  the  highest  form  of  renunciation — The  time- 
factor  in  the  calculation  of  pain — The  example  of  the  Saviour — 
'  The  crucified  Sophist ' — The  Cross  the  differentia  of  Christianity 
— The  Gnostics  and  the  Cross — Story  of  St.  Martin. 

§  II,  p.  10.  The  trial  and  death  of  Jesus — The  union  of  two  systems 
of  law — The  arrest — Legal  nature  of  the  arrest — The  illegal 
private  examinations — The  trial  before  Pilate — The  charge  of 
majestas — Definition  of  majestas  —  The  three  counts  against 
Jesus — Jesus  acquitted  —  The  illegal  change  of  venue  —  The 
illegal  retrial  before  Pilate — The  mockery— The  formal  sentence 
— Similarity  of  trial  between  that  of  Jesus  and  of  the  martyrs 
— TlB  Acts  of  Pilate. 

§111,  p.  21.  Martyrs  the  imitators  of  Jesus— The  legends  of  the 
Apostles'  martyrdom— Origin  of  these  legends— Their  value — 
The  sons  of  Zebedee— A  shadowy  martyr — St.  James—Story  of 
Hegesippus— Judaistic  Christianity—  The  mob  and  St.  Paul — 
The  action  of  Felix— Festus— The  appeal  to  Caesar — Result  of 
the  appeal. 

§  IV,  p.  36.  The  martyrdom  of  St.  Paul — His  alleged  journey  to 
Spain— The  fire  of  Rome — His  second  trial — The  two  counts  in 
the  indictment— His  execution — The  place  of  his  burial — 
Martyrdom  of  St.  Peter— Domme,  quo  vadis  ? — His  execution  and 
burial— The  banishment  of  St.  John— Dcportatio  or  relegatio  f — 
Date  and  causes  of  banishment — His  release — His  death  at 
Ephesus. 

Pp.  1-48. 


IN  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church  the  student 
is  brought  face  to  face  at  the  very  outset  with  the 
extremest  forms  that  renunciation  can  take.  No  scale 
has  yet  been  devised  that  can  weigh  the  relative 
value  of  different  methods  of  self-surrender.  That 
which  is  ease  and  simplicity  to  ono  man  may  be  the 
needle's  eye  to  another ;  the  source  of  exquisite  pain 
for  one  may  be  for  his  fellow  a  matter  of  little  conse- 
quence. The  outsider  who  would  construct  a  table 
of  renunciatory  values  is  face  to  face  with  the  same 
difficulty  which  besets  any  utilitarian  theory  of  morals, 
that  pain  and  pleasure  are  absolutely  relative  terms. 
However  this  may  be,  in  one  thing  most  men  are 
agreed:  that  the  voluntary  surrender  of  life  itself 
represents  the  highest  renunciation.  '  Skin  for  skin, 
yea  all  that  a  man  hath  will  he  give  for  his  life,'  is 
still  true,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  Schopenhauer  and 
others  to  demonstrate  its  illogical  character. 

The  consciousness  of  the  Christian  Church  has 
decided  the  question.  In  all  ages  men  have  looked 
upon  the  martyr  as  the  highest  expression  of  the 
spirit  of  self- surrender;  in  every  country  and  century 
he  has  won  for  himself  that  homage  and  esteem  which 
renunciation,  whether  in  greater  or  less  degree,  never 

B  2 


4  PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

fails  to  procure.  '  Blessed  Martyrs,'  wrote  one,  long 
ago, '  ye  who  iiave  be^n  tried  by  fire  like  fine  gold,  ye 
are  now  crowned  with  the  diadem  that  cannot  fade 
away;  for  ye  have  bruised  bensath  your  feet  the 
serpent's  head.' 1 

The  consciousness  of  the  Christian  Church  cannot 
be  seriously  questioned.  There  are  cases,  it  is  true, 
in  which  it  is  easier  to  die  than  to  live;  where  the 
daily  discharge  of  duty  against  overwhelming  odds, 
the  daily  carrying  of  a  burden  that  only  death  can 
remove,  the  daily  suppression  of  a  pain  that  is  gnaw- 
ing the  heart,  the  daily  struggle  of  broken  wings 
against  the  prison  bars,  is  a  task  far  more  difficult 
than  one  heroic  rush  into  the  midst  of  the  foe,  one 
short  hour  of  pain,  and  then  kindly  peace  for  ever. 
The  time-factor,  in  a  word,  cannot  be  ignored ;  and 
probably  if  the  amount  of  pain  could  be  calculated, 
there  are  saints  all  around  us  the  sum  of  whose 
sufferings  drawn  out  through  years  outweighs  the 
brief  tortures  that  have  immortalized  the  noble  army 
of  martyrs.  But  this  time-factor  is  one  that  in 
practical  life  it  is  generally  impossible  to  estimate. 
The  Victoria  Crosses  are  for  the  heroes  of  the  moment  ; 
there  are  no  rewards  for  the  lifelong  sufferers  that 
war  brings  in  her  train.  So  also  in  the  Christian 
Church.  The  valuation  of  the  time-factor  must  be 
left  with  God ;  we  have  no  instruments  wherewith 
we  can  measure  it.  But  one  thing  the  dullest  can 
understand — the  worth  and  reality  of  the  renunciation 

1  Ruinart  AM  222.     Cf.  Clem.  Alex.  Strom,  iv  4,  "  The  praises  of 
martyrdom." 


THE  MASTEB  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  5 

and  self-sacrifice  which  count  life  itself  of  no  value, 
and  which  have  obtained,  in  the  fine  figure  of  Ter- 
tullian,  '  the  crown  of  eternity  itself.' l 

In  part,  no  doubt,  the  value  that  the  Christian 
Church  has  always  attached  to  martyrdom  must  be 
attributed  to  the  example  of  Jesus,  if  for  the  moment 
we  may  contemplate  the  Crucifixion  not  in  its  eternal 
significance  as  atonement,  but  under  its  aspect  as  an 
episode  in  human  history.  The  story  that  moved  the 
world  was  the  Cross.  In  hoc  signo  vinces  may  be  a 
legend  of  later  growth ;  none  the  less  it  was  an 
historical  fact.  A  crossless  Saviour  would  be  a  crown- 
less  king ;  for  Christ  the  '  hour '  of  His  crucifixion 
was  the  '  hour '  of  His  glory,  the  one  *  hour '  of  His 
timeless  being.2  For  Him  also  was  fulfilled  the 
saying,  '  The  crown  blossoms  on  thorns.'  In  spite  of 
the  sneers  of  Lucian  at  the  '  crucified  Sophist,'  8  the 
Martyr  of  Calvary  laid  His  spell  on  the  world  from 
the  first;  a  fact  the  more  remarkable  when  we 
remember  that  mere  suffering  could  never  have 
appealed  to  an  age  that  was  steeped  in  cruelty,  and 
for  whom  crucifixion,  the  punishment  of  slaves,  was 
one  of  the  commonest  sights  of  life.  Through  His 
cross  the  Man  of  Sorrows  became  the  crowned  King, 
"whose  pierced  hand  lifted  empires  off  their  hinges, 
and  turned  the  stream  of  centuries  out  of  its  channel, 
and  still  governs  the  ages."4  The  spear  that  pierced 

1  Tert.  ad  Mart.  3.  2  John  xvii  1,  xiii  31. 

3  Lucian  PP  (Ed.  Dindorf  iii  337)  Tb*/  5'  di/e<r/coAo7n<r,u<W  IKWOV 
<ro<f)i<rTr)v.     Cf.  ib.  iii  330,  Ti»v  Hvdpairov  r^v  £v  naAatcTT/vj?  if aarKo\oiri<r- 

6fl'T<t. 

4  J.  P.  Kichter,  quoted  in  Geikie,  Life  of  Clirist,  i  2. 


6      PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

His  side  was  in  reality  the  death-wound  of  the  old 
paganism.  "  Pan,  great  Pan  is  dead,"  is  one  of  the 
undertones  in  the  cry  of  triumph,  "It  is  finished." 
Very  beautifully  is  this  expressed  in  a  recent  poem : 

Girt  in  the  panther  fells, 

Violets  in  my  hair, 
Down  I  ran  through  the  woody  dells, 

Through  the  morning  wild  and  fair, — 
To  sit  by  the  road  till  the  sun  was  high, 
That  I  might  see  some  god  pass  by. 

Fluting  amidst  the  thyme 

I  dreamed  through  the  golden  day, 

Calling  through  melody  and  rhyme, 
"  lacchus !  come  this  way, — 

From  harrowiug  Hades  like  a  king, 

Vine  leaves  and  glories  scattering." 

Twilight  was  all  rose-red 
When,  crowned  with  viue  and  thorn, 

Came  a  etranger-god  from  out  the  dead  ; 
And  his  hands  and  feet  were  torn. 

1  knew  him  not,  for  he  came  alone  : 

I  knew  him  not,  when  I  fain  had  known. 

He  said :  "  For  love,  for  love 

I  wear  the  vine  and  thorn." 
He  eaid ;  "  For  love,  for  love 

My  hands  and  feet  were  torn : 
For  love  the  wine-press  Death  I  trod." 
And  I  cried  in  pain:  "  0  Lord  my  God." * 

The  Cross  is  the  peculiar  property  of  the  Gospel. 
'  None  of  the  so-called  sons  of  Jupiter  did  imitate  the 
being  crucified,'  argued  Justin;  the  idea  was  as 
new  in  the  thought  of  the  world  as  its  power  was 

1  E.  A.  Taylor.    Poems  (1SMH)  p.  52. 


THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  7 

tremendous.1  "  The  old  logicians,"  writes  Dr.  Bigg, 
"used  to  say  that  everything  should  be  denned  per 
genus  et  differentiam.  Christianity  is  a  religion ;  this 
is  its  genus,  this  it  has  in  common  with  all  other 
religions.  It  is  the  religion  of  vicarious  sacrifice,  or 
of  the  Cross,  this  is  its  differentia ;  in  this  addition 
lies  the  peculiar  nature  which  makes  it  what  it  is,  and 
distinguishes  it  from  every  other  member  of  the 
same  class."  2  The  popular  verdict  is  one  with  that 
of  theological  science.  Theories  of  the  Atonement 
have  been  devised  more  or  less  satisfactory  in  their 
efforts  to  explain  in  finite  symbols  the  infinite  love 
and  sorrow  that  lie  at  the  heart  of  God.  But  even 
those  for  whom  such  theories  are  meaningless  have 
rarely  failed  to  render  homage  to  the  Divine  Sufferer. 
The  speculative  consequences  of  this  position  that 
Christianity  is  essentially  the  religion  of  the  Cross 
are  very  great.  Doctrines  shared  by  Christianity 
with  other  religions,  the  beliefs  in  immortality  and 
Providence,  the  value  of  law  and  virtue,  necessarily 
become  of  secondary  importance  as  explanatory  causes 
of  its  success.  This  can  be  adequately  accounted 
for  only  by  that  one  feature  in  which  Christianity 
differs  from  all  religions  that  have  gone  before 
or  which  have  risen  since.  The  foundations  of  the 
Church  are  laid  deep  in  Calvary. 

1  I  Apol.  55.     On  the  underlying  cause  of  this  disdain  for  the 
Crucified  in  Greek  philosophy  (of.  I.  Cor.  i  23),  see  Martineau  Types 
of  Ethical  Theory  (1885)  i  10.     Celsus  (Origen  Gels,  vii  53)  gives  a 
catalogue  of  heroes,  including  Epictetus,  whose  deaths  establish  a 
superior  claim  to  divinity. 

2  Bigg's  Church's  Task  under  Roman  Empirt  (1905)  xi. 


8  PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

Of  equal  importance  are  the  practical  consequences. 
If  the  Cross  is  the  essence  of  Christianity,  cross- 
bearing  is  the  mark  of  every  disciple  of  Jesus.  The 
theology  of  an  early  disciple  could  scarcely  fail  to 
be  otherwise  than  loose.  Only  slowly,  under  the 
pressure  of  circumstances,  did  the  great  doctrines 
become  clear-cut  in  the  consciousness  of  the  Church. 
But  immature  as  might  be  the  current  ideas  on  the 
Trinity,  the  Person  of  Christ,  the  nature  of  the 
Atonement,  and  the  Personality  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
on  one  matter  there  could  be  no  hesitation  or  un- 
certainty. Jesus  Himself  had  said  it  ;  no  man  could 
be  His  disciple  who  should  not  bear  His  Cross.  Self- 
denial,  renunciation,  martyrdom,  the  '  emptying  one's 
self  '  1  for  others,  in  a  word,  the  Cross  in  one  form  or 
another,  not  for  the  sake  of  "my  soul"  merely,  but 
for  the  sake  of  "  my  brother's  soul  "  as  well  as  mine, 
—  this  was  the  mark  by  which  the  Shepherd  would 
know  His  sheep.  Alas  !  for  that  soul  in  whom  the 
Master,  when  He  came,  could  not  find  the  print  of 
the  nails,  and  the  wounds  of  His  passion.  Self- 
surrender,  self-sacrifice,  is  not  the  bene  esse,  but  the 
very  esse  of  Christianity.  "  The  old  Gnostics  called 
the  Cross  Horos,  the  Boundary  or  Dividing  Line.  The 
Gnostics  were  a  curious  people,  but  they  were  right 
here."  2  The  Cross  is  indeed  the  dividing  line,  both 


1  Phil,  ii  7, 

2  Bigg  o.c.  xv  :   Dr.  Bigg  gives  no  references,  but  see  the  Leucian 
Ada  Johannis  (TS  v.  5  c  13),  Siopta-fAbs  irdvTuv  tariv,  K.T.\.  ;  Irenueus 
Haer.  i  3,  5  :  '  In  BO  far  as  he  supports  and  sustains  he  is  Stauros  (the 
Cross),  while  in  so  far  as  he  divides  and  separates  he  is  Horos,'  &c., 
with  the  subsequent  metaphor  of  the  fan  which  the  Gnostics  'explain 


THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  9 

in  the  life  of  the  world,  of  every  individual,  and  of 
the  Christ  Himself. 

There  is  a  beautiful  story  in  that  charming  work 
of  Sulpicius  Severus,  the  Life  of  St.  Martin  of  Tours, 
which  will  serve  as  an  illustration  of  our  meaning. 
One  day  as  Martin  was  praying  there  stood  before 
him  in  his  cell  a  radiant  being,  *  clothed  upon  with  a 
kingly  vest,  with  a  diadem  of  gems  and  gold  upon  his 
brow,  shoes  inlaid  with  gold  upon  his  feet,  and  whose 
face  was  lit  with  joy.'  As  the  saint  stood  in  silence, 
'  Martin,'  said  the  vision,  '  dost  thou  not  know  whom 
thou  beholdest  ?  I  am  the  Christ/  But  Martin  still 
stood  erect  and  speechless.  '  Martin,'  the  voice 
repeated,  '  why  dost  thou  doubt  that  thou  beholdest 
Me  ?  I  am  the  Christ/  '  Not  so,'  replied  the  saint, 
'Jesus  our  Lord  never  said  that  He  would  come 
again  resplendent  in  purple  and  gold.  I  will  not 
believe  that  I  have  seen  any  vision  of  Christ,  except 
He  come  clothed  upon  with  the  form  in  which  He 
suffered,  and  bearing  the  marks  of  His  Cross.'  At 
once  the  vision  vanished,  and  by  the  fumes  with 
which  his  cell  was  filled  Martin  recognized  that  it 
had  been  the  devil.1  Martin's  insight  was  correct; 
the  Cross  is  the  true  mark  of  the  Lord.  Even  the 


to  be  the  Cross.'    For  the  different  subdivisions  of  this  Horos,  see 
ib.  i  2,  4. 

1  Sulpicius  Severus  Vita  Martini  c.  24  (ed.  Halm  in  the  Vienna 
CSEL  1866).  The  devil  was  rather  given  to  taking  the  form  of 
Christ.  In  the  Vita  Pachomii  48  (Migne  PL  Ixxiii)  we  find  him 
playing  the  same  trick  on  Pachomius,  who  reasons  that  'the  vision  of 
Christ  frees  from  all  fear,  whereas  I  ain  troubled.'  The  defeated  devil 
usually  leaves  his  smell  behind  him. 


10          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

triumphant  Christ  must  still  wear  "  the  dear  tokens 
of  His  passion." 

II 

At  this  point  it  will  be  convenient  to  examine  the 
nature  of  the-  charge  and  the  legality  of  the  trial  by 
which  our  Lord  was  condemned.1  The  matter  is  of 
importance,  not  merely  in  itself,  but  by  reason  of  its 
relation  to  our  theme.  For,  as  we  shall  see,  in  His 
trial  and  execution  our  Lord  was  the  first-born  of 
many  brethren,  condemned  on  essentially  the  same 
charge  and  at  the  same  court  as  the  majority  of  the 
early  Christians.  But  in  one  detail  the  case  of  our 
Saviour  was  unique.  The  two  most  influential  law 
systems  of  the  old  world,  the  venerable  law  of  Moses 
and  the  august  jurisprudence  of  Home,  had  both  to 
face  the  problem,  "  What  shall  we  do  with  Jesus  that 
is  called  the  Christ  ?  "  To  accomplish  His  destruction 
they  were  both  violently  wrested  into  injustice,  to 
meet  the  greed  and  allay  the  fears  of  those  charged 
with  their  administration. 

So  long  as  our  Lord  was  in  Galilee  the  Sanhedrim 
had  no  legal  authority  over  Him.2  But  once  in 

1  For  the  trial  of  Jesus  in  its  legal  aspects  the  student  should 
consult   A.   Taylor   Innes   The   Trial  of  Jesus   Christ  (1899).      Its 
conclusions  are  summarized  in  Buss  Roman  Law,  &c.,  in  N.T.  (1901). 
G.  Rosadi  The  Trial  of  Jesus  (trans.  E.  Reich,  1905)  is  diffuse  and 
not  very  valuable.     How  close  in  form  and  many  of  its  phrases  (legal) 
the  trial  of  Jesus  is  to  the  trial  of  the  martyrs  may  be  seen  by  every 
student  who  will  compare  Le  Blant  SAM  §  59  (even  making  all 
discount  for  mere  coincidence)  with  the  Gospels. 

2  Schiirer  JPC  i  (2)  185. 


THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  11 

Jerusalem,  He  came  under  their  control.  For  the 
Eomans,  wise  in  their  generation,  governed  their 
empire  by  a  system  of  devolution  or  modified  home 
rule.  In  Judaea  every  effort  was  made  to  conciliate 
local  feeling.  The  members  of  the  Sanhedrim  were 
allowed  the  full  exercise  of  their  judicial  functions,  so 
far  as  their  own  people  were  concerned,1  with  the 
limitation,  of  importance  in  the  case  of  St.  Paul,  that 
they  had  no  control  over  Eoman  citizens,  nor  had 
they  any  right  of  inflicting  the  death  sentence.2 
But  this  last  was  really  a  less  effective  check  than  it 
might  appear.  A  politic  procurator,  ever  anxious 
to  prevent  disturbance  in  his  province,  usually  ratified 
the  death  sentence  of  the  Sanhedrim. 

The  arrest  of  Jesus  on  the  warrant  of  the  Sanhe- 
drim, perhaps  on  the  charge  of  riot  in  the  Temple,8 
was  therefore  legal.4  So  assured  were  the  high- 
priests  of  their  rights  that  they  obtained  from  Pilate 
a  cohort  of  soldiers  under  a  tribune 5  to  protect  them 
in  their  enterprise,  and  to  assist  the  Temple  police. 
The  large  military  force  may  seem  excessive ;  evi- 
dently the  hierarchy  expected  an  outbreak  of  the 

1  Schiirer  JPC  ii  (2)  262-3.     For  the  powers  of  the  Sanhedrim 
see  ib.  ii  (1)  163-95,  or  briefly  Mommsen  PEE  ii  187-8. 

2  John  xviii  31 ;   and  for  the  evidence  Buss  o.c.  184-8 ;  Schurer 
JPC  i  (2)  188  ;  Westcott  in  loc.  cit. ;  Blass  on  Acts  vii  57-8. 

3  This  cleansing  was  the  real  offence.     It  hit  hard  the  pocket 
of  Annas  and  his  ring.     See  Edersheim  Jesus  the  Messiah  i  371-2. 
As  to  when  this  event  took  place,  see  Drummond  FG  61-2. 

4  Innes  o.c.  21,  doubts  this  for  reasons  that  I  do  not  understand. 

8  John  xviii  3,  12,  enre?pa,  properly  600  men,  must  not  be  taken 
too  literally.    See  also  Westcott  in  loo. 


12          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY   CHURCH 

Galileans,  who  neither  recognized  nor  were  accus- 
tomed to  their  jurisdiction.  Of  more  importance  is 
it  to  note  in  this  persecution  of  the  Son  of  Man 
that  feature,  so  marked  in  later  days,  of  the  union  of 
Jew  and  Eoman.1  In  Judaea,  as  afterwards  through- 
out the  world,  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities 
were)  one  in  their  effort  to  destroy  the  religion  of 
Jesus.  The  actual  arrest  in  the  garden  of  Geth- 
semane  seems  to  have  been  the  work  of  the  Eoman 
soldiers,  the  Temple  police  at  the  critical  moment 
yielding  to  a  panic.2  They  had  often  heard  the 
Saviour  speak;  they  had  seen  His  deeds;  they 
dreaded  His  power.  From  all  these  fears  the  more 
ignorant  Eoman  soldiers  were  free.  But  with  the 
handing  over  of  their  captive  to  the  officers  of  the 
Sanhedrim  the  work  of  the  regulars  for  the  present  was 
finished. 

The  private  examination  of  Jesus  before  Annas 
was  altogether  illegal.  In  Judaea,  unlike  France  or 
Scotland,  no  preliminary  interrogatories  were  allowed.8 
The  trial  before  the  Sanhedrim  would  have  been 
legal  if  the  court  had  been  a  formal  meeting,  and  not 
a  packed  quorum  of  twenty-three,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  doubt  whether  the  day  was  not  one  on  which  all 
courts  were  illegal.  As  it  was,  its  conduct  made  it 
a  judicial  murder.4  Contrary  to  all  the  rules  of 

1  See  infra  p.  119.  2  John  xviii  6, 12. 

8  See  Innes  o.c.  24-26,  who  quotes  the  learned  Spanish  Jew  jurist 
Salvador;  Institutions  de  Moise  i  3G6.  In  the  edition  I  have  used 
(Brussels,  1829)  the  reference  ia  ii  60. 

4  Edersheim  ii  552-6.  Innes  o.c.  30  ff.  The  Jews  think  this. 
See  the  Talmudic  evasions,  ib.  ii  558  n. 


THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  13 

Jewish  law,  the  court  was  held,  in  part  at  least,  by 
night,  or  at  any  rate  before  daybreak.  According  to 
St.  Luke,  the  formal  decision — for  no  witnesses  were 
recalled — was  not  given  until  dawn.1  But  even  then 
it  would  have  been  illegal.  Jewish  law  laid  great 
stress  on  the  necessary  adjournment,  over  twelve 
hours  at  least,  before  the  sentence  of  condemnation.2 
The  judicial  use  of  the  confession  of  the  accused, 
even  after  solemn  adjuration,  was  expressly  forbidden. 
In  this  too  Jesus  was  one  with  His  brethren,  who 
were  condemned  on  their  confession  alone.3  Again, 
as  Salvador  tells  us,  "  the  least  discordance  between 
the  evidence  of  the  witnesses  was  held  to  destroy  its 
value." 4  The  sentence  itself,  strictly  speaking,  was 
ultra  vires,  though  too  much  must  not  be  made  of 
what  in  practice  was  often  rather  a  technicality  than 
otherwise.  But  the  carrying  out  of  the  death-sentence 
without  the  consent  of  Pilate  was  difficult  and  danger- 
ous, as  Annas,  the  father-in-law  of  Caiaphas,  knew  to 
his  cost,  and  as  his  son  Annas  was  afterwards  to 
learn.5  Annas,  the  father,  had  lost  his  office  some 
thirteen  years  before  for  this  very  reason ; 6  and  Pilate 

1  Lulte  xxii  66. 

2  Salvador,  the  ohampion  of  the  justice  of  the  trial  (Jugemeni  de 
J&us  1862  i  391,  or  Imtit.  Mo'ise,  1829, 1.  iv  c  3  ii  89)  ignores  this.     He 
states,  against  all   the   evidence :    "  It  is  certain  that  the  Council 
would  assemble  again  the  next  day."  3  See  infra  p.  104. 

4  Instil,  i  373,  or  (1829)  ii  69.  Innes  reminds  us  (p.  40)  that  the 
fact  that  Jesus  was  tried  on  a  "  general  warrant,"  though  illegal  in 
England,  was  not  so  in  Judaea. 

8  See  infra  p.  27,  death  of  James.  For  this  irregularity  he  was 
deposed  by  Agrippa  (Joseph.  Antiq.  xx  9,  1). 

•  A.D.  16,  deposed  by  Valerius  Gratus  (Joseph.  Antiq.  xviii  2, 2). 


14          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

was  not  a  procurator  given  to  humouring  the  Jewish 
pretensions.  The  priests  had  no  option,  therefore, 
but  to  obtain  the  Koman  endorsement.  As  a  rule 
this  would  have  been  granted,  with  little,  if  any, 
inquiry.  But,  whether  by  blunder  or  design,  in 
bringing  the  case  before  Pilate  they  changed  the 
charge  from  blasphemy1  to  treason.  If  they  had 
alleged  the  first  only,  the  count  upon  which  Jesus 
had  been  condemned  by  the  Sanhedrim,  Pilate  might 
have  ratified  their  sentence  offhand,  as  a  matter 
merely  of  Jewish  religion  or  politics.  But  in  that 
case  the  death  would  have  been  by  stoning,  as 
ordained  by  the  Jewish  law,  not  the  death  on  the  Cross 
of  malefactors  and  slaves,  the  only  death  which  would 
overwhelm  with  ridicule  His  Messianic  pretensions. 

The  charge  of  treason  threw  upon  Pilate  the 
necessity  of  a  formal  trial,  of  hearing  the  case  de  novo 
without  reference  to  the  examination  of  the  Sanhedrim. 
Criinen  laesae  majestatis  (lese-majeste),  or  high  treason 
against  the  Emperor,  was  the  most  grievous  offence 
known  to  Eoman  law,  theoretically  second  to  sacrilege, 
but  in  reality  one  with  it.  In  earlier  days  majestas, 
as  the  offence  was  usually  called,  embraced  any 
'crime  against  the  Kornan  people,  or  their  security/ 
— we  quote  the  comprehensive  definition  of  the  great 
Koman  jurist  Ulpian,2  as,  for  instance,  conspiracy, 

1  Blasphemy  in  Jewish  law  probahly  included  the  attempt  to 
supersede  that  law  (Innes  44-6).  It  was  really  theocratic  high  treason, 
or  crimen  laesae  majestatis  divinae.  See  infra  p.  101  n.  Under  this 
category  St.  Paul,  even  more  than  our  Saviour,  could  have  been 
condemned,  or  for  that  matter  any  reformer. 

8  Dig.  xlviii  4, 1.    See  also  Paulus  Sent,  v  29. 


THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  15 

the  giving  aid  to  enemies,  or  the  aiming  at  the 
abolished  office  of  king.  With  the  fall  of  the  Eepublic, 
and  the  accumulation  in  the  person  of  a  sacred 
Emperor  of  all  the  offices  of  the  State,  the  law  of 
majestas  became  the  most  potent  instrument  of 
tyranny,  as  vague  as  it  was  comprehensive.  Any 
disrespect  to  the  Emperor  or  his  statue,1  even  spoken 
words  without  acts,  brought  the  offender  under  its 
penal  clauses.  The  refusal  to  pay  the  taxes  or 
tribute  to  Caesar  might  also,  by  a  lawyer's  ingenuity, 
be  brought  under  the  same  head.  The  penalties 
were  fixed  by  law  as  either  banishment  or  death.2 
How  hardly  all  this  bore  on  the  Christians  we  shall 
see  later. 

On  their  first  bringing  the  prisoner  before  Pilate 
the  Sanhedrim  attempted  to  obtain  His  condemnation 
on  a  general  unspecified  warrant.  But  when  Pilate 
refused  to  touch  such  a  case  they  were  driven  to 
formulate  a  specific  accusation.  By  Koman  law  and 
usage  each  count  in  an  indictment  had  to  be  tried 
separately.  Of  the  three  counts  alleged  against  Jesus 
—perverting  the  nation,  the  forbidding  tribute  to 
Caesar,  and  the  making  Himself  a  king — Pilate 
fastened  upon  the  last  as  the  most  important  and 
comprehensive.  The  fact,  if  true,  would  be  fatal. 
As  procurator  or  imperial  legate  he  was  bound  to 


1  Dig.  xlviii  4,  5-6.    Most  important  for  the  early  Christians. 

2  For  the  crime  of  majestas  see  the  various  comments  of  Eoman 
lawyers  on  the  Lex  Julia  majestatis  in  Dig.  xlviii  4.     Eeaders  of 
English  only  may  consult  Merivale  EE  v  247-64,  or  briefly  Dill 
ESN  A  33 ;  Innes  o.c,  85 ;  or  Buss  o.c.  208-12. 


16    PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

conduct  such  a  case  himself.  The  trial  took  place  in 
the  Praetorium— either  some  hall  in  the  Castle  of 
Antonia,  or,  more  probably,  the  Palace  of  Herod  the 
Great  *• — and  would  appear  to  have  been  but  brief.  In 
answer  to  the  formal  charge  our  Lord  put  in  a  plea 
known  to  English  law  as  confession  and  avoidance, 
admitting  in  effect  the  truth  of  the  accusation,  but 
pleading  "  new  matter  to  avoid  the  effect  of  it,  and 
show  that  the  plaintiff  is,  notwithstanding,  not 
entitled  to  his  action."  2  '  My  kingdom,'  He  said,  'is 
not  of  this  world.'  He  pleaded  that  His  kingdom 
dealt  with  spiritual  things,  as,  for  instance,  the  truth. 
After  some  discussion,  not  unmixed  with  scorn,  Pilate 
accepted  the  plea.  Evidently  Jesus  was  a  religious 
enthusiast,  or  wandering  philosopher  whom  it  would 
be  absurd  to  destroy  by  so  imposing  a  legal  process. 
Let  the  Jews  deal  with  the  matter  themselves.  So 
far  as  majestas  was  concerned,  Pilate  pronounced  the 
sentence  of  acquittal — '  I  find  no  crime  in  Him,'  absolvo, 
Not  guilty. 

Up  to  this  point  Pilate  had  kept  true  to  the  im- 
mortal traditions  of  Eoman  equity,  which  more  than 
aught  else  constituted  the  secret  and  strength  of  the 
Empire.  But  the  sentence  of  acquittal  led  to  an  out- 
burst of  the  mob,  which  seems  to  have  swept  Pilate 
off  his  feet.  Hearing  the  word  Galilee,  he  tried  to 
change  the  venue,  to  send  the  prisoner  from  the  place 
of  arrest  to  the  place  of  His  crime ;  a  step  which  would 
have  been  perfectly  legal  if  only  taken  earlier,  but 

1  Edereheim  ii  565  ;  DB  s.v, ;  infra  p.  19,  n.  4. 

2  Buss  o.c.  214. 


THE  MASTER  AND   HIS  DISCIPLES  17 

which  after  acquittal  became  a  travesty  of  justice. 
But  Herod  Antipas  was  too  prudent  to  meddle  in  a 
charge  of  majestas.  He  turned  the  matter  into  a 
pleasant  pantomime  by  arraying  Jesus  in  'gorgeous 
apparel' — either  the  purple  robe  of  a  king,  or  the 
white  garment  of  a  candidate — and  sent  Him  back  to 
Pilate.  "  The  Idumaean  fox  dreaded  the  lion's  paw 
while  very  willing  to  exchange  courtesies  with  the 
lion's  deputy."1  The  after  proceedings  were  a  still 
deeper  mockery  of  Koman  justice ;  "a  veritable  phan- 
tasmagoria of  injustice  and  brutality  to  the  accused, 
of  alternate  conciliation  and  expostulation  towards 
the  prosecutors,  ending  in  the  defeat  of  the  Judge.  " 2 
For  two  hours  Pilate  faced  the  mob,  trying  to  accom- 
plish the  impossible,  the  reconciliation  of  acquittal 
and  condemnation,  of  popularity  and  duty,  of  Eoman 
law  and  Jewish  fanaticism.  His  wife  even  came  to 
the  assistance  of  her  husband's  conscience.3  But  all 
was  in  vain.  At  length  Pilate  yielded.  Roman  judges, 
pronouncing  the  death-sentence,  called  the  sun  to 
witness  the  justice  of  their  acts;  Pilate  paid  some 
homage  to  his  conscience  and  the  majesty  of  Ptoman 
law  by  taking  refuge  in  a  merely  Jewish  practice. 
He  called  for  water,  and  threw  the  responsibility  of 
his  verdict  on  the  priests  and  elders.  Mob  rule  and 
priestly  hatred  had  conquered.  Utilitarian  theories 4 

1  Inncs  o.c.  94.  The  purple  suits  better  the  charge  of  majestas. 
See  Plummer  St.  Luke  in  loc.  2  Buss  o.c.  224. 

3  Roman  wives  had  only  recently  been  allowed,  or  rather  not 
forbidden,  to  accompany  their  husbands  to  the  provincial  governments. 
See  Tacitus  Ann.  iii  33,  34;  date  A.D.  21. 

*  Of.  St.  John  xi  50.  Utilitarian  politics  are  always  reaiy,  if 

C 


18          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

of  justice  and  politics  had  won  their  greatest  triumph. 
Christ  was  at  length  informally  condemned  on  the 
charge  of  majestas,  in  spite  of  His  previous  judicial 
acquittal.  In  years  to  come,  when  facing  the  mob  of 
Lyons,  Smyrna,  or  Antioch  on  the  same  charge,  and 
with  the  same  issue  as  their  Master,  the  Christians 
would  comfort  themselves  with  the  thought  that  they 
were  treading  in  His  steps.  In  this,  as  in  all  else,  He 
was  their  forerunner  and  example. 

In  His  punishment  also  Christ  suffered  with  His 
brethren.  They  were  tortured  as  part  of  their  ex- 
amination. From  this  the  lingering  remnants  of 
justice  in  Pilate's  mind  had  spared  Him,  though 
the  mockeries  of  Herod's  soldiers  were  not  without 
elements  of  brutality.  But  after  the  informal  verdict 
He  drank  the  cup  to  the  dregs.  He  was  bound  to  the 
whipping-post  and  lashed  with  leather  thongs  loaded 
with  balls  of  lead  or  spikes  of  bone ;  then  handed 
over  to  the  soldiers  to  furnish  a  half-hour's  jest  in 
the  barrack-room.  Naturally  the  sport  took  its 
colour  from  the  legal  proceedings.  The  declared 
rival  of  Caesar  should  enter  His  kingdom.  So  the 
soldiers  clothed  Him  with  purple,  some  worn-out 
garment  of  Pilate,  then  crowned  Him  with  thorns,1 

the  occasion  so  demand,  to  crucify  the  Christ  for  the  sake  of  a 
vested  interest.  It  is  not  surprising  that  the  ablest  defence  of  Pilate 
will  be  found  in  the  Utilitarian  writer  Sir  J.  Stephen's  Liberty, 
Equality,  Fraternity  (1873),  pp.  89  ff. 

1  In  the  first  recension  of  the  Acta  Pilati  c.  10  (Tiscb.  EA  231)  the 
coronation  with  thorns  does  not  take  place  until  the  crucifixion.  So 
also  Codex  Bezae  (TS  ii  (1)  271).  In  the  second  recension  of  the 
Acta  Pilati  (Tisch.  EA  280)  the  incident  runs  as  in  St.  Matt,  St. 
Luke  does  not  mention  it 


THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  19 

and  kept  marching  round  Him,  pretending  to  kneel 
as  they  passed.  According  to  one  authority,1  Pilate 
even  sank  so  low  as  to  join  in  their  sport,  charac- 
teristically combining  with  his  undignified  brutality 
a  last  effort  at  release.  But  all  was  in  vain.  The 
Jews  pointed  out  that  there  were  other  counts  in  the 
indictment  with  which  Pilate  had  not  dealt,  even  if  he 
were  disposed  to  pay  no  further  heed  to  the  charge  of 
treason,2  on  which,  in  fact,  he  had  already  pronounced 
informal  condemnation,  and  which  they  for  their  part 
were  inclined  to  press,  if  necessary,  by  appeal  to 
Eome.  Pilate  was  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  his 
own  weakness.  To  let  off  a  prisoner  whom  he  had 
already  condemned,  however  informally,  for  majestas, 
would  be  too  dangerous  for  him  to  contemplate. 
There  was  no  help  for  it  but  to  pronounce  the  formal 
sentence.  So  Pilate  ascended  his  tribunal,3  an  elevated 
seat  on  a  mosaic  pavement,  commanding,  it  would 
seem,  a  view  over  the  whole  city.4  In  accordance 
with  Pioman  forms,  the  public  was  admitted,  and  the 
prisoner  brought  in,  still  wearing  His  robes  and  crown. 
The  verdict  was  read.5  As  the  superscription  on  His 
cross  shows,  Jesus  was  condemned  for  majestas.  The 

1  John  xix  1-12.  2  So  I  interpret  the  curious  John  xix  7. 

3  Justin  I  Apol.  35  and  the  Gospel  of  Peter  (ed.  Robinson  and 
James  1892  p.  17)  read  that  he  set  Jesus  on  the  seat  as  part  of  the 
mockery.    But  this,  though  possible  in  Greek,  should  be  rejected. 
Roman  judges  had  scarcely  sunk  so  low.    On  the  other  side  see 
Expositor  (1893)  296  ff. 

4  John  xix  13.     Edersheim  ii  578  n.    But  see  DB  s.v.  Gabbatha. 

6  See  Le  Blant  SAM  167,  223-4,  who  shows  that  this  was  the 
custom  with  the  Christian  martyrs.  Cf.  Tert.  Apol.  2,  'de  tabella 
recitatis  ilium  Chriatianuin,  &c.'  Thio  written  verdict  could  not  bo 


20    PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

death  penalty  was  inevitable,  nor  was  it  more  cruel 
than  the  penalties  in  England,  until  recent  days,  for 
the  same  offence.  The  due  forms  would  be  observed. 
"Ilium  duci  ad  crucem  placet,"1  said  the  Judge,  to  the 
prisoner.  "  I,  miles,  expedi  crucem,"  "  Go,  soldier, 
get  ready  the  cross,"  he  would  add  as  he  bade  the 
officials  execute  the  sentence  without  delay.  With 
the  writing  of  the  official  titulus,  a  board  giving  the 
crime,  usually  carried  before  the  prisoner,2  and  the 
forwarding  a  precis  of  the  case  to  Rome,8  or  at  least 
entering  it  in  the  archives  at  Jerusalem  or  Caesarea, 

altered.  See  Le  Blant  SAM  167,  '  Judex  quam  tulit  de  reo  tabellam 
revocare  non  potest.'  With  this  of.  Pilate's  &  yeypa^a  yfypatya 
(John  xix  22). 

1  Le  Blant  SAM  224. 

2  Common  also  in  the  case  of  Christian  martyrs.    Cf.  Thekla 
(infra  p.  91  n)  ;  Euseb.  HE  v  1,  44  (Attalus ;  see  infra  p.  104  n.). 

3  Such  reports  were  common,  and  form  the  basis  of  the  most 
authentic  of  the  Acta  Martyrum.    See  infra  p.  285  n  1.    Justin  I  Apol. 
35 ;  48,  Tert.  Apol  21,  Euseb.  HE  ii  2,  all  assume  its  existence  at 
Rome.     Cf.  the  Syriac  Sermon  of  Simon   Cepha  (Cureton.  Ancient 
Syriac  Doce.  38  or  Clark  ANL  xx  (2)  52).     Justin  and  Tertullian  may 
allude  to  the  Anaphora  Pilati  (with  its  sequel  Paradosis  Pilati),  a 
work  which  has  many  remarkable  coincidences  with  the  recently 
discovered  Gospel  of  Peter  (Gibson  Apocrypha  Sinaitica  pp.  x-xii),  and 
is  probably  older.     The  legends  of  the  Anaphora  ("  Giving  up  ")  have 
a   very  early  date    therefore.      For    the  Anaphora  in  Greek    see 
Tischendorf  EA  413-31,  or  Fabricius  Cod.  Apoc.  (1719)  ii ;  and  for  an 
older  Syriac  text  (with  translation)  see  Gibson  o.c.  1-6.     A  transla- 
tion from  the  text  of  Tischendorf  of  the  Pilate  literature  will  be 
found  in  Clark  ANCL  xvi  223  ff. 

Mrs.  Gibson  dwells  (p.  xiv)  on  "the  author's  truly  Christian 
appreciation  of  the  scope  of  divine  forgiveness."  But  in  reality  the 
whitewashing  of  Pilate  was  one  form  of  Judenhetze  in  the  early 
Church.  See  infra  p.  116.  Here  the  hate  takes  the  form  of  stating 
that  it  was  the  Jews,  not  Pilate,  who  put  Jesus  to  death  (see  Paradosis 
Pilati  c.  9,  in  Gibson  o.c.  7,  8,  12,  or  Tisch.  EA  430).  The  Abyssinian 


THE   MASTEK  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  21 

Pilate's  task  was  finished.  So  the  Man  of  Sorrows 
passed  out  to  His  death,  carrying  as  usual1  His 
own  cross — not  the  cross  rendered  familiar  by  the 
exaggerations  of  artists,  for  the  Romans  wasted  no 
wood  on  their  criminals.  In  one  sense  the  charge  of 
majestas  on  the  '  title  '  was  true.  The  King  had  come 
to  His  own  at  last.  Lifted  up  in  shame,  He  drew  all 
men  to  Him  in  adoration. 

Ill 

By  a  sure  instinct  the  Church  discerned  in  the 
death  of  the  martyr  the  repetition,  not  the  less  real 

Church  even  went  so  far  as  to  canonize  Pilate  (his  festival  is  June  25) 
as  well  as  his  wife  Procla  (Neale  East.  Church  i  806),  while  in  the 
Paradosis  Pilati  c.  10  (Gibson  o.c.  13,  Tisch.  o.c.  431),  when  Tiberius 
cuts  off  Pilate's  head,  angels  receive  it,  and  a  voice  cries,  'All 
generations  shall  call  thee  blessed  ...  for  under  thee  all  these 
things  were  fulfilled.'  Similar  lenient  views  of  Pilate  will  be  found 
in  Tertul.  Apol.  21,  '  Pilate,  a  Christian  in  his  convictions ' ;  in  the 
Epistolae  Pilati  et  Herodis  (ed.  Dr.  James  in  TS  ii  66-75).  How  far  all 
this  was  from  the  truth  will  be  evident  from  our  rendering  of  the  trial. 

As  Euseb.  HE  ix  5  tells  us,  the  Acts  of  Pilate  extant  under  Maximin 
were  forged  by  the  heathen,  as  a  weapon  against  Christianity.  See 
Harnack  CAL  i  603  ff.  As  part  of  the  persecution  they  were  ordered 
by  Maximin  to  be  taught  to  the  school  children  of  every  city.  They 
must  be  carefully  distinguished  from  those  now  extant  in  two 
recensions  better  known  as  the  Gospel  of  Nicodemus.  See  Tisch.  EA 
203  ff.  According  to  Euseb.  HE  i  9,  they  were  only  *  lately  forged.' 
[References  to  these  *  Acts '  (i.e.  the  forged  ones)  occur  in  several  of  the 
records  of  the  contemporary  martyrs ;  e.g.  Andronicus  (Kuiuart  AM 
442  ;  Tlthdrov  uiro/ij/Tj/iora  KardKeivrai,  says  Maximin).  Infra  280. 

1  See  Artemidorus  Oneirocritica  ii  56  (infra  p.  128,  n.),  who  tells 
us  that  to  dream  of  carrying  the  cross  was  common,  and  in  the  case  of 
those  who  go  to  sea  a  good  omen ;  on  the  principles  of  Shak.  Temp,  i  1 : 
"His  complexion  is  perfect  gallows.  He  hath  no  drowning  murk 
upon  him." 


22          PEESECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

because  faint,  of  the  central  Sacrifice  of  Calvary.  t  As 
we  behold  the  martyrs,'  writes  Origen,1  '  coming  forth 
from  every  Church  to  be  brought  before  the  tribunal, 
we  see  in  each  the  Lord  Himself  condemned.'  So 
Irenaeus  speaks  of  the  martyrs  as  '  endeavouring  to 
follow  in  the  footsteps  of  Christ,'  and  of  St.  Stephen,  as 
*  imitating  in  all  things  the  Master  of  Martyrdom.'  2 
In  the  early  Church  the  imitation  of  Christ,  as  a 
formal  principle  in  ethics,  played  but  a  secondary 
part,  so  far,  at  any  rate,  as  the  average  member  was 
concerned.3  The  martyrs  and  confessors  alone  were 
thought  of  as  actually  following  and  imitating  Jesus  ; 
they  were  pre-eminently  the  *  true  disciples  '  of  the 
.Master.4  It  was  enough  for  the  servant  that  he 
should  be  as  his  Lord. 

One  consequence  of  this  last  idea  made  its  appear- 
ance in  the  Church  at  a  very  early  date.  We  refer  to 
the  legends  of  martyrdom  of  the  first  Apostles.5 
These  are  manifestly  the  production  of  an  age  which 
could  scarcely  conceive  of  a  perfect  renunciation 
which  did  not  issue  in  the  cross  or  the  stake.  Such 
Christians  interpreted  too  literally  the  cry  of  love  :  Let 


1  Orig.  In  Jerem.  Homil  xiv  7  (Migne  PG  xiii 

2  Adv.  Haer.  iii  o  18,  5;  c  12,  13. 

8  See  Harnack  EG  i  107  n.  The  modern  strength  of  the  idea  is 
due  to  Thomas  k  Kempis. 

4  See  especially  Ignatius  Eph.  1,  Eom.  4,  5,  Mart.  Polyo.  17,  and 
infra  pp.  343  ff. 

4  We  see  the  same  tendency  in  the  exaggeration  of  the  number 
of  martyrs  among  the  early  popes  in  the  Liber  Pontificalis,  in  whose 
lists  only  ten  before  Silvester  (Constantino)  are  not  *  crowned  with 
martyrdom.'  Duchesne  LP  i  Inlro.  §  4,  owns  that  many  must  be 
abandoned. 


THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  23 

us  also  go,  that  we  may  die  with  Him.  They  reduced 
the  way  of  the  cross  to  one  well-trodden  path.  They 
remembered,  perhaps  too  literally,  our  Lord's  ordina- 
tion charge  to  His  disciples,  with  its  foreshadowings 
of  the  hour  when  they  should  stand  before  kings  and 
governors  for  His  name's  sake,  and  its  warning  of  the 
greater  fear  than  the  fear  of  them  that  kill  the  body 
and  after  that  have  no  more  that  they  can  do.1  We 
in  these  latter  days,  for  whom  self-surrender  must 
take  a  different  form,  not  the  less  complete  because 
of  gentler  type,  may  rejoice  that  God's  demands  upon 
His  servants  are  not  all  the  same.  They  also  serve 
who  stand  and  wait,  and  the  Apostles  who  died  in 
peace  at  home  are  not  less  truly  His  heroes  than  they 
who,  like  St.  Paul  or  St.  Peter,  counted  their  lives  to 
be  but  dross  for  the  sake  of  Christ. 

These  legends,  moreover,  must  be  discredited, 
inasmuch  as  they  are  largely  the  outcome  of  the 
parousian  beliefs  which  dominated  the  early 
Church.  We  see  in  them  the  attempts  to  show  that 
the  Gospel  had  been  preached  to  every  nation,  even 
by  the  first  Apostles,  and  that  all  things,  therefore, 
were  ready  for  His  coming.2  But  the  absence  of 
early  tradition  is  almost  proof  of  their  falsity;  at 
any  rate,  we  are  not  now  able  to  distinguish  the 
kernel  of  fact  which  the  legends,  many  of  them  of 
Gnostic  or  Ebionite  origin,  may  contain.8 

Slight,  however,  as  may  be  their  basis  of  fact, 

1  Matt,  x  16-32. 

8  See  infra  p.  233. 

*  See  -infra  Appendix  C  §  vi. 


24    PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

the  student  would  do  well  to  remember  the  wise 
words  of  Dr.  Montague  James  : 

"Not  many  will  deny  that  these  books  possess  considerable 
historical  value.  The  high-road  will  serve  us  well  if  we  want  to 
visit  our  cathedral  cities ;  but  in  order  to  get  an  idea  of  the  popular 
architecture  of  a  district  we  must  often  digress  into  obscure  and 
devious  by-paths.  The  apocryphal  books  stand  in  the  relation 
of  by-paths— not  always  clean  or  pleasant — to  the  broad  and  well- 
trodden  high-road  of  ordinary  patristic  literature.  If  a  future 
historian  wants  to  realize  vividly  what  were  the  beliefs  of  many 
large  classes  of  ordinary  Christians  in  our  time,  he  will  derive  great 
help,  I  doubt  not,  from  the  "  Sunday  Stories  "  of  the  last  thirty  years : 
and  not  less  information  can  be  gathered  from  the  apocryphal 
books  as  to  the  popular  beliefs  of  average  Christians  in  far  earlier 
times." 1 

The  same  remark  is  equally  true  of  many  of  the 
less  authentic  Acts  of  martyrs. 

The  record  of  the  earliest  martyr,  Stephen,  is  in 
the  Scriptures.  In  his  case  the  lead  in  prosecution 
would  appear  to  have  been  taken  by  the  synagogue  of 
the  Eoman  freedmen,2  possibly  through  the  influence 
of  another  Eoman  citizen,  a  young  man  from  Tarsus, 
a  most  bitter  enemy  of  the  new  Way.  Immediately 
after  the  stoning  of  the  proto-martyr  a  general  perse- 
cution, which  reached  as  far  as  Damascus,  drove  all 
except  the  Apostles  from  the  city.  By  what  means 

1  Apocrypha  Anecdola  in  TS  ii  (3)  p.  viii. 

2  Acts  vi  9.    For  the  Libertini,  strictly  the  descendants  of  the  Jew 
slaves  sold  at  Rome  by  Pompey,  who  had  won  their  freedom  and 
citizenship,  see  Schurer  JPO  ii  (2)  276  n ;  DB  or  EB  s.v.    Possibly  the 
reading  is  wrong.    See  commentaries  in  loc.    In  favour  of  the  reading 
note  the  active  part  taken  in  the  city  politics  of  Pompeji  by  the 
Synagogue  of  the  Libertines  (Lanciani  PCR  310). 


THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  25 

the  twelve  were   able  to   stay  on  and  yet  escape 
destruction  we  know  not. 

From  the  Acts 1  also  we  learn  how  Herod  Agrippa 
I,  the  grandson  of  Herod,  killed  James,  the  brother 
of  John,2  with  the  sword,  and  would  have  seized  St. 
Peter,  whose  time,  however,  was  not  yet  come.  Accord- 
ing to  Clement  of  Alexandria,3  the  man  who  had  led 
St.  James  to  the  judgement-seat,  possibly,  though  not 
necessarily,  his  accuser,  was  so  impressed  with  his 
testimony  that  he  too  professed  faith  in  Christ,  the  first 
of  many  led  to  the  truth  by  the  "  witness  "  of  the 
"martyrs."  'Both  therefore  were  led  away  to  die. 
On  their  way  he  entreated  James  to  be  forgiven  by 
him.  James,  considering  a  little  while,  replied, 
"  Peace  be  to  thee,"  and  kissed  him.  So  these  two 
were  beheaded  together.'  Thus  St.  James  drank  at 
last  of  the  same  cup,  and  was  baptized  with  the 
baptism  of  Christ. 

O  great  Apostle !  rightly  now 

Thou  readest  all  thy  Saviour  meant.4 

With   St.  James  there    seems   to  have   perished  a 
disciple  of  our  Lord  belonging  to  the  highest  caste  in 

1  Acts  xii  1-19.     The  date  is  fixed  by  the  subsequent  death  of 
Agrippa  I.  (Acts  xii  20-4,  Joseph.  Antiy.  xix  8,  2)  as  early  in  44.    See 
DB  (s.v.  Chronology)  i  416. 

2  For  an  examination  of  the  view  that  St.  John  the  Apostle  was 
also  killed  at  the  same  time,  see  infra  Appendix  B. 

3  Euseb.  HE  ii  9,  from  Clement's  lost  Hypotyposeis  (or  "  Sketches  ") 
bk.    vii.      A    similar    story    is    told    in    Peeudo-Abdias    Historiae 
Aposlolicae  lib.  iv  c.  13.    The  details  read  rather  suspiciously  like  a 
transference  to  earlier  days  of  later  conditions  and  incidents.    See 
infra  p.  346. 

4  Keble,  Christian  Year,  St.  James'  Day. 


26  PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

the  hierarchy,  who  bore  the  somewhat  common  name 
of  John.  Possibly  this  mysterious  martyr  suffered 
later,  perhaps  at  the  same  time  as  the  other  St. 
James.  But  the  date,  the  place  of  execution,  and 
the  identity  of  this  John  are  alike  matters  of  dispute. 
Some  have  boldly  claimed  that  this  early  martyr  was 
the  Apostle  John,  i.e.  John  the  son  of  Zebedee;  others 
have  recognized  in  him  the  shadowy  '  Elder  John ' 
of  Papias;  not  a  few  have  denied  his  existence. 
Unfortunately  the  solution  of  the  question  is  so 
wrapped  up  with  the  most  momentous  issues  of  New 
Testament  criticism  that  it  has  become  the  favourite 
battle-ground  of  opposing  schools. 

Of  the  martyrdom  of  the  other  James,  the  brother 
of  our  Lord,  the  first  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  we  have 
an  account  in  Hegesippus,1  the  exact  historical  value 

1  Hegesippus,  Hypomenmata,  "Memorials,"  bk.  v.,  a  lost  work 
quoted  in  Eusebius  HE  ii  23.  But  the  support  which  Eusebius, 
following  Origen  (Gels,  i  47),  claims  from  Josephus  Antiq.  xx  9  is  in 
part  a  spurious  Christian  interpolation,  while  the  genuine  part  is  not 
in  harmony  with  Hegesippus.  See  Lightfoot  Gal.  366  n. ;  Mayor  8t. 
James  xxxviii-xli.  Lightfoot,  who  rejects  the  story,  conjectures  (ib. 
3G7  n.)  that  Hegesippus'  account  is  "  the  grand  finale  "  of  the  Ebionite 
work,  The  Ascents  of  James  (discourses  supposed  to  have  been  delivered 
on  the  Temple  steps),  traces  of  which  we  find  in  the  Clementine 
Recognitions  (ib.  330).  I  may  point  out  one  mark  of  Ebionite  influence 
in  the  description  of  James.  We  are  told  '  that  he  never  wore  woollen, 
but  linen  garments ' — one  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  Essenes.  The 
Ascents  of  James  is  a  notoriously  Anti-Pauline  work  of  the  extreme 
Jewish-Christian  school  (see  infra  p.  122  n.),  as  is  evident  from  the 
scurrilous  tale  regarding  St.  Paul  found  in  the  same  by  Epiphanius 
Haer.  xxx  16,  on  which,  however,  see  Hort  JO  152. 

The  date  in  Hegesippus,  *  immediately  before  Vespasian's  invasion,' 
cannot  possibly  be  correct.  From  Josephus  I.e.  we  learn  that  in  the 
interval  between  the  death  of  Festus  and  the  arrival  of  hi»  successor 


THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  27 

of  which  it  is  difficult  for  the  historian  to  appraise. 
But  though  the  details  may  be  doubtful,  some  of  them 
evidently  written  for  polemical  ends,  we  may  accept, 
though  not  without  misgivings,  the  truth  of  the  main 
outlines.1  By  the  strictness  of  his  life  and  his  exceed- 
ing piety — '  his  knees  had  become  as  hard  as  camels' 
in  consequence  of  his  habitual  supplication ' — St. 
James  had  won  the  respect  of  all  parties.  So  the 
rulers  came  to  James  and  said,  '  We  entreat  thee 
restrain  the  people  who  are  led  astray  after  Jesus  .  .  . 
for  we  all  have  confidence  in  thee.  Persuade  them 
not  to  be  led  astray.  Stand  therefore  upon  a  wing  of 
the  Temple,  that  thy  words  may  be  heard  by  all  the 
people.'  Then  they  placed  James  upon  a  wing  of  the 
Temple  and  cried  out  to  him,  '  0  thou  Just  One,2  since 
the  people  are  led  astray  after  Jesus  who  was  crucified, 
declare  to  us  what  is  the  door  to  Jesus  3  the  crucified.' 

Albimis  the  high  priest  Annas,  the  son  of  the  Annas  in  the  Gospels, 
made  this  vicious  "  tiger-leap  "  against  the  Christians  thus  temporarily 
deprived  of  Roman  protection.  For  this  Annas  was  deposed.  But 
the  date  of  the  death  of  Festus  is  doubtful  (see  DB  i  417  ff.,  Schurer 
JPC  i  (2)  183  n.).  I  incline  to  date  as  in  the  summer  of  61  rather 
than  in  62.  See  infra  pp.  33  n.,  34  n. 

1  From  the  fact  that  there  is  also  a  short  account  of  the  death  of 
St.  James  in  Euseb.  HE  ii  i,  from  Clement  Alex.  Hypotyp.  bk.  vii,  wo 
may  accept  the  martyrdom  as  certain.    Some  of  the  details  seem  to 
me  in  keeping  with  the  character  of  St.  James. 

2  Oblias,  which  Hegesippus  hesitatingly  translated  as  '  Righteous,' 
i.e.  the  one  who  fulfils  the  Mosaic  Law.     Two  later  Bishops  of 
Jerusalem  (3rd  and  llth)  bear  the  name  (i.e.  Justus)  in  memory  of 
their  predecessor  (Euseb.  HE  iv  5).     But  possibly  it  means  'the 
defence  of  the  people.'    The  title  of  '  Just '  is,  however,  iu  Clement 
Z.c.,  on  which  see  Lightf.  Gal  280,  n. 

3  The  phrase  is  difficult.    It  may  be  translated  "  the  door  of  which 
Jesus  epuko  "  (John  x  7,  9),  or  clae,  posaibly,  aa  Hosheiui  suggested, 


28    PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

But  James  announced  with  a  loud  voice,  '  Why  do  ye 
ask  me  respecting  Jesus  the  Son  of  Man  ? l  He  is  now 
sitting  in  the  heavens,  on  the  right  hand  of  a  great 
Power,  and  is  about  to  come  on  the  clouds  of  heaven.' 
In  their  rage  at  his  testimony  they  hurled  him  down 
from  the  tower  and  stoned  him.  But  he  kneeled  down 
and  prayed.  *  I  entreat  Thee  God  and  Father  forgive 
them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do.'  '  Stop  your 
stoning,'  cried  one  of  the  priests,  'the  Just  One  is 
praying  for  you.'  'But  a  fuller  ran  up,  and  beat  out  his 
brains  with  the  club  which  he  used  to  beat  his  clothes.' 
The  story  may  be  little  more  than  a  romance  ;  but  it 
was  a  romance  with  a  purpose.  The  tale  was  intended 
to  show  that  "in  James,  the  Lord's  brother,  we  have 
the  prototype  of  these  later  saints,  whose  rigid  life 
and  formal  devotion  elicits,  it  may  be,  the  contempt 
of  the  world,  but  of  whom  nevertheless,  the  world  was 
not,  and  is  not,  worthy." 2  The  death  of  St.  James  thus 
set  the  seal  on  the  doctrine  of  renunciation.  The 
cross,  as  Tertullian  exhausts  his  eloquence  in  show- 
ing us,  is  the  sacred  legacy  of  all  who  are  His,  with- 
out which  there  could  not  be  perfection.8 

The  murder  of  St.  James  was  the  last  great  event 
of  which  we  possess  any  knowledge  in  the  long  perse- 
cution of  the  Christians  at  Jerusalem.  Seven  years 

Jesus  is  an  early  misreading  for  Jeschua,  i.e.  salvation.  See  Mayor 
Ep.  James  (1897)  xxxviii,  n. 

1  The  use  of  this  title  of  Jesus  is  not  common.    If  more  than  a 
reminiscence  of  St.  Stephen's  words  (Acts  vii  56),  it  shows  (what  we 
should  not  have  gathered  from  the  N.T.)  that  the  title  was  in  common 
use  in  the  Church.    Cf.  Ep.  Bam.  xi  9,  10 ;  Ign.  Eph.  20. 

2  Lightfoot  Phil  368.  »  Tert.  Scorp.  cc.  10,  11. 


THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  29 

later1  'those  who  believed  in  Christ*  migrated  to 
Pella,  driven  out  by  the  tyranny  of  the  Zealot  party, 
who  were  now  supreme  in  the  doomed  city.  As  we 
shall  see  later,  their  sufferings  at  the  hands  of  the 
Jews  did  not  cease  with  the  destruction  of  the  Temple.2 
From  the  days  of  St.  Stephen  until  their  final  ex- 
tinction the  Judaistic  Church  knew  no  peace,  save 
perhaps  during  the  brief  years  spent  in  exile.  The 
murder  of  James  was  more  than  a  crime;  for  the 
future  both  of  Christianity  and  Judaism  it  was  a  dis- 
aster. Judaistic  Christianity,  the  earliest  form  of 
Christianity,  was  doomed.  Henceforth  Christianity 
could  be  of  but  one  type.  But  the  gain  of  Christianity 
by  this  concentration  of  itself  upon  one  line  of 
development  was  purchased  by  the  loss  of  that 
sympathetic  toleration  which  the  existence  of  another 
type  would  have  rendered  needful.  Upon  none  did 
this  loss  of  the  spirit  of  Jesus  fall  more  hardly  in  a 
later  age  than  upon  the  Jews  themselves.3 

A  few  years  before  their  murder  of  James  the  Just 
the  Jews  tried  hard  to  destroy  the  apostle  whom  they 
considered  the  great  enemy  of  their  creed.  St.  Peter 
and  St.  John  had  already  left  Jerusalem,4  possibly 
because  with  growing  light  they  felt  out  of  touch  with 
its  rigid  Judaistic  Christianity,  when  a  fortunate 

1  i.e.  between  the  capture  of  Pella  by  Vespasian  in  the  spring  of 
68  and  the  gathering  of  the  army  of  Titus  at  Caesarea  in  the  spring 
of  70.      See  Hort    Judaistio  Christianity  175;   Euseb.   HE  iii  5; 
Epiphanius  Haer.  xxix  7. 

2  Infra  p.  118  ff. 

8  Infra  p.  159.    St.  Paul  was  not  responsible  for  this. 
4  Inference  from  Acts  xxi  18. 


30          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

chance  delivered,  as  they  thought,  St.  Paul  himself 
into  the  hands  of  the  priests.  The  story  of  the  perse- 
cution of  the  great  apostle  is  told  at  some  length,  and 
throws  much  light  on  the  methods  employed  by  the 
Jews  in  their  attacks  upon  the  Christians.  Not  that 
this  was  the  first  time  that  St.  Paul  had  suffered  at 
their  hands.  In  one  of  his  letters  he  refers  to  the 
imprisonments  and  scourgings  by  which  the  Jews 
had  tried  to  destroy  his  Gospel.1  But  this  new  perse- 
cution so  manifestly  formed  a  crisis  in  the  life  of  the 
Apostle  and  the  Church  that  St.  Luke  devotes  special 
attention  to  it.2 

Some  years  before  there  had  happened  in  Jerusalem 
a  notable  instance  of  lynch  law.  The  mob,  incited  by 
the  Sanhedrim,  had  stoned  to  death  the  most  far- 
sighted  of  the  Nazarenes,  trusting  to  the  weakness  or 
indifference  of  the  procurators  to  overlook  this  glaring 
defiance  of  order.  The  leader  on  that  occasion  was 
one  Saul  of  Tarsus,  against  whom,  now  that  occasion 
demanded,  the  same  methods  might  be  employed. 
A  report  spread  that  St.  Paul  had  introduced  into  the 
Temple  one  of  his  uncircumcised  converts.  The 
rumour  was  cunningly  devised,  for  the  Ptomans  had 
given  the  Jews  the  power  of  putting  to  death  any 
Gentile,  even  though  a  Eoman  citizen,  who  profaned 
by  his  presence  the  sacred  building.3  The  mob  did 

1  II  Cor.  xi  24.    But  the  fighting  with  beasts  at  Ephesus  (I  Cor. 
xv  32)  must  be  taken  figuratively. 

2  Acts  xxi  17  to  xxvi.    Well  expounded  in  Bass  o.c.  322-402. 

3  See  Mommsen  PEE  ii  189,  n.,  for  a  copy  of  the  tablet  engraved 
with  this  notice,  now  at  Constantinople.    A  photograph  in  Encyc. 
Jew,  xii  85  shows  the  axe-cuts  of  the  soldiers  of  Titus. 


THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  31 

not  stop  to  investigate  its  truth.  They  fell  upon  the 
apostle  and  tried  to  drag  him  out  of  the  Temple  into 
the  court  of  the  Gentiles,  intending  there  to  beat  him 
to  death.  But  a  company  of  soldiers  on  duty  in  the 
neighbouring  castle  of  Antonia,  the  walls  of  which 
overlooked  the  sacred  precincts,  had  observed  and 
reported  the  tumult.  They  ran  down  the  steps, 
secured  the  cause  of  the  disturbance,  and  bound  St. 
Paul  with  '  two  chains,'  i.e.  with  handcuffs,  to  a  soldier 
on  either  side.  On  the  order  being  given  that  he 
should  be  removed  to  the  citadel  an  ugly  rush  was 
made  by  the  mob.  But  the  soldiers  lifted  St.  Paul 
into  their  arms  and  carried  him  up  the  steps  to  the 
castle.  At  the  top  Lysias  the  tribune,  who  was  him- 
self  with  several  centurions  superintending  the  pro- 
ceedings, allowed  the  fettered  prisoner  to  address  the 
people,  an  irregularity  which  in  the  upshot  drove  the 
mob  into  fresh  riot.  St.  Paul  was  hurried  into  the 
castle  and  orders  given  for  his  examination  by  torture. 
From  this  he  was  saved  by  pleading  his  Bornan 
citizenship.  Lysias  was  in  a  difficulty.  As  a  citizen 
St.  Paul  must  be  set  free  or  some  definite  charge 
under  Boman,  not  Jewish,  law  brought  against  him. 
The  attempts  of  Lysias  to  conciliate  the  Sanhedrim, 
and  at  the  same  time  obtain  a  definite  charge,  ended 
in  the  renewal  of  the  riot,  and  the  carrying  off  of  the 
Apostle  once  more  to  the  castle.  But  the  Jews  were 
determined  not  to  be  baulked  of  their  prey.  Where 
the  mob  had  failed  forty  desperadoes  might  succeed. 
But  the  plot  was  revealed,  and  St.  Paul  despatched 
for  safety  under  an  armed  escort  to  Caesarea.  With  St. 


32          PERSECUTION  IN  THE   EARLY   CHURCH 

Paul  was  forwarded  an  official  statement  from  Lysias 
of  the  charges  against  him  (elogium)  '  to  his  excellency 
the  procurator  Felix.' 

Felix,  in  accordance  with  the  usual  forms,  regis- 
tered the  charge  and  sent  at  once  for  the  prosecutors. 
On  their  arrival,  five  days  later,  the  trial  began.  The 
proceedings  were  probably  in  Latin,  a  language  with 
which  we  must  suppose  St.  Paul  to  be  familiar,  for  he 
elected  to  defend  himself.  There  were  three  counts 
in  the  indictment.  The  second,  that  of  heresy 
(cuplerewc),  was  rather  a  matter  of  Jewish  law.  With 
this  the  prosecution  linked  two  others,  a  charge  of 
majestas,  and  an  accusation  of  sacrilege,  or  profanation 
of  their  Temple.  But  the  priests,  strange  to  say,  had 
overlooked  the  need  of  witnesses,  two  of  whom  at 
least  by  Eoman  law  were  necessary  to  prove  the  case. 
The  rhetorician,  Tertullus,  did  his  best  to  secure  con- 
demnation by  adroit  flattery  of  the  enfranchised  slave, 
whom  fortune  had  placed  on  the  judgement-seat. 
But  even  Felix,  who,  in  the  words  of  Tacitus,  '  exer- 
cised the  power  of  a  king  with  the  temper  of  a  slave,'  * 
dare  not  so  degrade  the  law.  By  rights  St.  Paul 
should  have  been  acquitted,  but  the  procurator, 
whether  in  the  hopes  of  a  bribe  or  from  a  desire  to 
conciliate  the  hierarchy,  decided  on  a  remand.  He 
urged  the  absence  of  a  material  witness,  the  tribune 
Lysias. 

For  two  years  St.  Paul  lingered  in  prison.  Felix 
was  too  busy  dealing  with  the  serious  riots  in  Oaesarea 
between  Jew  and  Syrian  to  concern  himself  with  St. 

1  Hist,  v  9. 


THE  MASTEK  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  33 

Paul.  But  on  the  arrival  of  the  new  procurator, 
Festus,1  at  the  suit  of  the  Jews  a  new  trial  was 
ordered.  This  second  trial,  though  Festus  himself 
was  a  better  man  than  the  degenerate  Felix,  was 
much  more  disorderly  than  the  first.  The  forms  of 
law  were  not  observed,  no  witnesses  were  produced, 
and  yet  Festus,  in  his  anxiety  to  please  the  Jews, 
offered  to  transfer  the  case  to  Jerusalem,  and  have  it 
tried  before  the  Sanhedrim  as  an  ecclesiastical  offence. 
St.  Paul  cut  short  this  travesty  of  justice  by  an  appeal 
to  Caesar.  After  a  short  consultation  the  appeal  was 
allowed.  In  spite  of  the  inconvenience  and  expense, 
Festus  could  not  do  otherwise.  Only  if  St.  Paul  had 
been  taken  in  arms  against  the  authorities  could  the 
procurator  have  quashed  the  appeal  of  a  citizen.2 
Doubtless,  as  Prof.  Eamsay  points  out,  "  the  right  of 
appeal  was  hedged  in  by  fees  and  pledges."  This 
expense  St.  Paul  must  have  met,  possibly  by  the  sale 
of  his  hereditary  property.8  But  Festus  had  as  yet  no 
specific  charge  to  enter  in  the  litterae  dimissoriae,  or 
apostoli,*  letters  stating  the  case  forwarded  with  the 

1  The  date  of  the  arrival  of  Festus  is  uncertain.     See  DB  i  417-9, 
Schiirer  JPC  i  (2)  182,  Harnack  CAL  i  237.     I  strongly  incline  to 
59  for  the  recall  of  Felix,  57  for  St.  Paul's  arrest.    Lightfoot's  dates 
(Bib.  Essays  217-20)  seem  to  me  too  late.    See  also  Zahn  Einleitung 
ii  638.    See  infra  p.  34,  n. 

2  The  case  to  the  contrary  recorded  in  Suet.  Galba  9  is  clearly  an 
illegal  arbitrary  act.     The  right  of  appeal  was  an  extension  of  the 
tribunician  powers  of  Caesar. 

3  Eamsay  St.  Paul  the  Traveller  (ed.  7)  310-3. 

4  Paulus  Sent,  v  33.     See  also  Du  Cange,  %.v.  for  its  similar 
mediaeval  use  in  the  Roman  Church.    The  N.T.  term  is  indirectly,  it 
seems  to  me,  connected  with  this  use.     Of.  John  xiii  16.    See  infra  p. 
120  n.,  for  the  Jewish  use  of  apostoli,  which  probably  served  as  the  link. 

D 


34:          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

appellant.  That  he  might  fill  up  properly  the  charge- 
sheet  (elogium),  Festus  laid  the  case  before  Agrippa 
and  his  sister  Bernice.  An  informal  hearing  was 
arranged,  and  the  prisoner  introduced.  In  the  middle 
of  the  Apostle's  impassioned  exhortation  Festus  inter- 
rupted the  proceedings.  Evidently  St.  Paul's  books 
were  turning  his  brain;  but  at  any  rate  nothing 
criminal  could  be  discovered  for  entry  in  the  elogium. 
So  with  the  well-known  sneer  of  Agrippa  at  St.  Paul's 
impulsiveness,  or  disregard  of  logic1 — the  precise 
nuance  is  uncertain — the  audience  terminated. 

The  final  issue  of  the  appeal  seems  tolerably 
certain.  After  a  delay  of  close  upon  three  years, 
counting  in  the  time  occupied  in  the  voyage  to  Eome, 
the  case  was  heard.2  Of  the  causes  of  delay,  as  well 
as  the  parties  to  the  prosecution,  we  know  nothing. 
Even  after  the  hearing  had  commenced  there  were 
many  delays  before  the  decision  was  given.  But  in 
his  letter  to  the  Philippians  St.  Paul  was  confident 
of  the  issue,  and  full  of  thankfulness  for  the  way  in 

1  Acts  xxvi  28.    The  use  of  the  word  « Christian '  is  itself  a  sneer. 
See  infra  p.  58  n. 

2  I  take  St.  Paul's  first  trial  and  acquittal  to  have  taken  place,  at 
latest,  early  in  62,  probably  at  the  close  of  61,  certainly  not  in  63. 
My  reasons,  apart  from  the  question  of  the  date  of  Festus  (supra 
p.  33  n.),  are :  (a)  The  change  in  the  character  of  Nero  that  occurred 
on  the  death  of  the  prefect  of  the  Praetorian  Guard,  Burrus,  in  62, 
the  rise  of  the  infamous  Tigellinus,  and  the  retirement  of  Seneca. 
(&)  The  release  of  St.   Paul  would  take  place  before  the  triumph 
of   Poppaea,  who  favoured  the  Jews,   if   not    herself  a  proselyte. 
Poppaea's  influence  was  at    the    full  when    on  June    9,  62,    she 
obtained  an  order  for  the  slaughter  of  Octavia,  Nero's  wife.    During 
the  greater  part  of  62  and  63   Poppaea  could  do  anything,  and 
assuredly  St.  Paul  would  not  escape.    See  infra  pp.  38  n.,  57  n. 


THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  35 

which  his  trial  had  turned  out  already  to  the  further- 
ance of  the  Gospel.  The  successive  adjournments 
had  enabled  him  to  lay  his  case,  not  once  nor  twice, 
before  the  Supreme  Court.1  He  expects  shortly  to  see 
both  Philemon  and  the  Philippian  brethren — not  a 
word,  be  it  noted,  of  any  plans  for  a  journey  to  Spain.3 
The  Apostle  would  be  tried  before  Nero.  The  court 
would  be  a  room  of  Nero's  palace,  not,  however, 
the  Golden  House  of  later  days.  Associated  with 
the  emperor  were  twenty  assessors,8  selected  from 
the  senators.  Formerly  the  votes  of  the  senators 
were  taken  by  ballot.  But  Nero  preferred  to  receive 
from  each  a  written  opinion,  and  on  the  next  day  to 
deliver  his  judgement  in  person.  From  the  Pastoral 
Epistles  we  gather  that  Nero  pronounced  for  acquittal. 
He  could  scarcely  do  otherwise  on  the  elogium  of 
Festus,  though  perhaps  the  length  of  the  trial  shows 
the  powerful  influences  brought  to  bear  against  the 
Apostle.  The  matter  was  too  palpably  a  Jewish 
squabble,  another  instance  of  the  wild  hatreds  of 
this  fanatical  people,  to  be  of  much  concern  to  the 


1  Phil,  i  12-3,  understanding  (with  Mommsen  Berlin  Akad. 
Sitxungsber.  1895  p.  501,  Ramsay  PT  357,  Findlay  DB  iii  713, 
and  others)  by  the  Praetorium,  not  the  Praetorian  Guard  (B.V.)  or 
the  Palace,  but  the  Praetor's  Court,  or  Supreme  Court.  (See  supra 
p.  16,  for  use  in  the  Gospels.)  Philip,  therefore,  was  written  during 
the  trial.  Lightfoot's  influence  {Phil.  p.  99-104)  for  the  Praetorian 
Guard  is  still  strong;  e.g.  see  Vincent  Inter.  Grit.  Com.  Philip,  p.  51. 
The  judicial  functions  of  the  prefect  of  the  Praetorian  Guard,  at  this 
time  the  upright  Burrus,  did  not  begin  before  Hadrian  (Greenidge 
Roman  Public  Life,  409). 

1  Infra  p.  36,  n.  4.  »  See  infra  p.  37  n. 


36          PEESECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHUKCH 

central  authorities.      Two  years  later  this  official 
indifference  gave  place  to  a  contrary  policy.1 


IV 

The  murders  of  St.  Stephen  and  St.  James, 
the  persecution  at  Damascus  and  elsewhere,  and  the 
early  imprisonments  of  St.  Paul,  were  the  results  of 
Jewish  hatred.  The  infant  Church  was  now  to 
experience  the  more  dreaded  enmity  of  the  Empire. 
For  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  the 
earliest  evidence,  thirty  years  at  least  after  the 
event,  is  a  letter — somewhat  too  rhetorical,  alas ! — 
from  the  Church  of  Home  to  that  of  Corinth  : a 

Let  us  come  to  the  athletes  who  lived  but  lately,  the  noble 
examples  of  our  own  generation.  .  .  .  Let  us  set  before  our  eyes  the 
good  Apostles.  There  was  Peter,  who  by  reason  of  unrighteous 
jealousy  endured  not  one  nor  two  but  many  labours,  and  thus  haying 
borne  his  witness  (/tapTup^tros)  went  to  his  appointed  place  of  glory. 
Paul  also,  by  reason  of  jealousy  and  strife,3  pointed  out  the  way  to 
the  prize  of  patient  endurance.  ...  He  won  the  noble  renown 
which  was  the  reward  of  his  faith;  having  taught  righteousness 
unto  the  whole  world,  and  having  reached  the  bounds  of  the  West ; « 

1  Prof.  Ramsay  (PT  362)  treats  the  acquittal  as  a  "  charter  of 
freedom  "  for  the  preaching  of  the  new  creed.    On  this  he  builds  a 
•whole  superstructure  of  theories.    I  prefer  to  read  into  it  indifference 
to  Jewish  minutiae  joined  with  regard  for  the  rights  of  citizens  and 
Jews.     See  infra  p.  56  for  further  on  this. 

2  For  the  date  of  the  Ep.  Cor.  of  Clement  see  infra  p.  206  n. 

3  See  infra  Appendix  D  (6). 

4  ^TT!  rb  rcp/ia  TTJS  Sutrews.    On  this  much  debated  passage  (Spain, 
&o.)  I  would  only  add  that  to  me  the  passage  seems  too  rhetorical 
('  whole  world,'  &o.)  to  be  more  than  a  proof  that  the  Roman  Church 
believed  in  the  early  coming  of  Christ,  and  that  the  Gospel  had 
already  been  preached  to  all  nations  by  the  Apostles.    See  infra 


THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  37 


and  when  he  had  borne  hi«  witness  (fcaprwp^o-os)  before  the  rulers,1  so 
he  departed  from  the  world  and  went  unto  the  holj  place,  having 
been  found  a  noble  pattern  of  patient  endurance.2 

With  the  acquittal  of  St.  Paul  after  his  first 
captivity  (A.D.  61)  the  Apostle  vanishes,  though  as 
one  immortal,  from  the  pages  of  certain  history.3  The 
rest,  his  journeys  East  and  West,  his  sudden  arrest 
at  Troas  or  Nicopolis,  his  second  entrance  as  a 
captive  into  Home,  the  letters  of  this  second  captivity, 

p.  232.  The  absence  of  tradition,  the  silence  of  Eusebius  HE  iii  1  (in 
this  case  more  than  negative),  of  the  Philippians  (supra  p.  35  n),  and 
the  Pastorals,  the  tradition  in  Spain  of  St.  James  (on  which  see  DB 
«.v.)  seem  to  me  fairly  conclusive.  Surely  otherwise  Gaul  and  -Spain 
would  have  claimed  St.  Paul  as  theirs,  some  legend  or  tale  would 
have  survived.  Clement's  statement—  the  absence  of  details  all 
through  is  exasperating,  and  one  of  the  results  of  Koman  rhetorical 
education  —  seems  to  me  an  inference  from  Eomans  xv  24.  (See 
EB  4599-600.)  For  the  other  side  see  Lightfoot  Biblical  Essays 
(1893)  p.  423  n.  (really  written,  however,  in  1862,  and  somewhat 
unsatisfactory  in  consequence),  who  brings  St.  Paul  to  Marseilles, 
taking  II  Tim.  iv  10,  «  Crescens  to  Galatia,'  to  mean  Gaul  (p.  432). 
In  K  o  the  reading,  it  is  true,  is  els  Ta\\iav,  traditionally  Yienne. 
But  surely  the  Greek  Churches  of  the  Ehone  valley,  which  were 
fairly  flourishing  in  177,  and  in  bp.  Pothinus  had  a  link  with  the 
first  century  (infra  p.  295  n.),  would  have  preserved  this  tradition, 
and  not  that  of  Trophimus  at  Aries,  etc. 

1  i.e.  unless  mere  rhetoric,  the  "  assessors."  See  supra  p.  35.  Some 
have  tried  to  discover  in  the  use  of  this  phrase  (r£>v  Twovpevuv)  a 
mark  of  time.  Its  use  would  fit  in  with  67,  when  Nero  was  in 
Greece,  and  so  would  not  be  mentioned.  But  the  writer  is  too  vague 
and  rhetorical  to  be  trusted  in  so  fine  a  point.  See  also  infra  p.  38  n. 

*  Clem.  Rom.  Cor.  5,  with  Lightfoot's  notes,  or  EB  4598. 

*  The  two  most  deplorable  gaps  in  early  Church  history  are  (a) 
the  loss  of  the  records  of  the  early  Roman  Church,  especially  of  its 
martyrs  ;  (6)  our  complete  ignorance  of  affairs  at  Alexandria  before 
180,  except  by  conjectures  based  upon  the  Ep.  Barnabas,  &c.    These 
losses  should  constantly  be  borne  in  mind.    In  ths  case  of  the  first 
the  lose  is  partially  made  up  by  the  researches  of  archaeologists. 


38          PERSECUTION  IN  THE   EARLY  CHURCH 

the  manner  of  his  trial,  the  date  of  his  death,  are 
matters  of  dispute,  the  exact  details  of  which  in  any 
case  are  lost.  One  thing,  however,  is  clear  from  a 
comparison  of  Philippians  with  II  Timothy.1  There 
had  been  in  the  interval  a  complete  change  in  the 
policy  towards  Christianity  of  the  Eoman  Govern- 
ment. This  change  was  due,  as  we  shall  see,2  to 
the  great  fire  of  Kome  (July,  64).  As  part  of  the 
persecution  which  then  broke  out,  orders  were  given 
for  the  imprisonment  of  the  Christian  leaders. 
Poppaea,  Tigellinus,  and  their  Jewish  friends 3  were 
not  likely  to  forget  the  prisoner  of  two  years  before. 
At  the  time  St.  Paul  was  away  from  Rome,  but  steps 
were  instantly  taken  for  his  arrest.  The  Apostle  was 
brought  back  to  the  city  in  the  autumn  or  winter  of 
64.4  Very  different  was  his  entrance  into  Eome  from 

1  Even  Harnack  allows  that   II  Tim.  contains  some   genuine 
traditions. 

2  Infra  p.  53. 
*  Infra  p.  57. 

4  The  weak  point  in  Lightfoot's  chronology  of  St.  Paul  (e.g.  in  his 
essay  written  in  1862, «  St.  Paul's  History  after  the  Close  of  the  Acts," 
published  in  Bib.  Essays,  1893,  pp.  421-37),  seems  to  me  to  be  that  he 
allows  St.  Paul  far  too  much  freedom  after  the  fire  (o.c.  423  n.,  430). 
In  his  Chronology  of  St.  Paul's  Life  (o.c.  215-33)  he  puts  the  martyr- 
dom (following  the  untrustworthy  evidence  of  Jerome  do  Vir.  111.  5, 
*  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  Nero,'  and  Euseb.  Chron.,  '  in  the  thirteenth 
year ')  as  in  the  spring  of  68  or  the  autumn  of  67.  But  a  late  date  is 
not  necessary  for  the  defence  of  the  Pastorals,  while  I  have  already 
shown  reasons  for  rejecting  the  visit  to  Spain.  I  accordingly  date  St. 
Paul's  death  as  very  early  in  65,  possibly  Feb.  22  (see  A.SS  June 
v.  5  pp.  409,  473  for  an  ancient  festival  on  this  date),  his  arrest  in  the 
late  autumn  (Titus  iii  12)  of  64.  Another  reason  against  a  late  date 
is  that  with  the  outbreak  of  the  great  Jewish  war  in  66  the  Jews 
•would  lose  their  influence  ;  see  supra  p.  34  n.,  infra  pp  57,  110  n. 


THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  39 

that  which  had  been  his  lot  on  the  former  memor- 
able occasion.  No  kindly  officer-courier 1  now  did  his 
best  to  make  things  smooth  for  his  captive.  On  the 
contrary,  the  police  had  not  even  allowed  him  time  to 
find  his  overcoat  or  necessary  documents.2  The  just 
and  humane  Burrus  was  dead.  No  Christians  came 
down  the  Appian  Way  to  meet  him ;  the  fear  of  the 
awful  terror  still  lay  heavy  upon  them.  Instead  of 
his  own  hired  lodging  there  would  be  a  noisome 
dungeon.  His  friends  had  deserted  him,  some,  as 
Demas,  for  fear  of  the  persecution ;  others  even  had 
turned  traitor  and  were  willing  to  appear  in  court 
against  him,  He  was  hated  by  the  mob,  treated  as 
a  malefactor,3  and  as  such  now  put  upon  his  trial. 
That  he  had  a  trial  at  all  instead  of  the  summary 
punishment  of  his  brethren  witnesses  to  the  im- 
portance attached  by  the  Government  to  a  show 
of  legality  in  the  persecution  of  the  leader. 

There  seem  to  have  been  two  counts 4  in  the  indict- 
ment. By  ancient  rules  each  was  tried  separately.5 
The  first  count  probably,  as  Conybeare  and  Howson 
suggest,  was  complicity  in  the  fire.6  But  even  the 
false  witness  of  Alexander,  the  coppersmith,  who 
had  turned  informer  (delator)  because  of  his  recent 

1  '  Augustan  band,'  Acts  xxvii  1 ,  on  which  see  Mommsen  in  Ramsay 
PT  315. 

2  II  Tim.  iv  13.    By  ras  /j.efj.&pdvas  I  understand  the  proofs  of  his 
citizenship.    For  <f>e\6vris  (a  rough  overcoat),  which  some  interpret  as 
a  sort  of  bookcase,  see  Grimm  s.v. 

3  II  Tim.  ii  9 ;  cf.  I  Peter  iv  15  ;  infra  p.  61  n.  4. 

*  II  Tim.  iv  16.  *  Supra  p.  15. 

•  Cf. '  malefactor,'  II  Tim.  ii  9. 


40          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

excommunication  by  the  Apostle,1  could  not  upset  the 
alibi  which  St.  Paul  was  able  to  establish.  So  on  this 
charge  he  '  was  delivered  out  of  the  mouth  of  the 
lion,' 2  a  phrase  which  possibly  may  point  to  the  trial 
taking  place  before  Nero  himself.  In  the  interval 
between  the  two  actions  he  wrote  his  immortal  last 
words.  He  had  'fought  the  good  fight/  he  had  'run 
his  race.'  He  had  no  delusions,  no  hope  save  to 
depart  and  be  with  Christ.  There  remained  the 
'  offering  up,'  and  then  '  the  crown  of  righteousness.' 
The  second  count  was  either  majestas — almost  any- 
thing could  be  brought  under  this  head — or  the  new 
crime  of  being  a  Christian,  the  crime  of  '  the  Name,' 3 
in  itself  a  mere  variation,  as  we  shall  see  later,4  of 
majestas  or  high  treason.  On  this  indictment  there 
could  be  but  one  verdict. 

Bound  St.  Paul's  last  days  legend  has  woven  thick 
a  web  of  fancy,  unless  indeed,  as  well  may  be,  loving 
tradition  has  thus  preserved  for  us  the  real  facts. 
After  his  condemnation  he  would  probably  be  confined 
in  the  dungeon  of  Eoman  citizens  and  captives  of 
eminence,  the  famous  Mamertine.  In  itself  there  is 
little,  save  perhaps  the  distance  from  Borne,  to 
prevent  us  from  accepting  the  story  consecrated  by 
long  ages  that  St.  Paul  'offered  up'  his  life  in  the 
green  and  level  spot,  with  low  hills  around  it,  about 
three  miles  from  the  city,  known  in  those  days  as  the 
Aquae  Salviae,  now  as  the  Tre  Fontane.5  As  he  left 

1  II  Tim.  iv.  14, 1  Tim.  i  20.  f  II  Tim.  iv  17. 

»  See  infra  pp.  55  n.,  104.  4  Infra  p.  101  n.  2. 

•  The  tradition  is  first  mentioned  by  Gregory  the  Great,  Ep.  xiv  14 


THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  41 

Home,  almost  the  last  object  upon  which  his  eyes 
would  rest  would  be  the  pyramid  of  Caius  Cestius,  in 
its  origin  a  record  of  the  luxury 1  of  the  jeunesse  doree, 
which  thus  became  "a  monument  unconsciously 
erected  by  a  pagan  to  the  memory  of  a  martyr  "  who 
suffered,  like  his  Lord,  '  without  the  gate.'  As  a 
Eoman  citizen  Paul  escaped  the  more  cruel  fate  of  his 
brethren,  and  died  by  the  sword.2  According  to  tra- 
dition, a  convert  of  distinction,  Lucina3  by  name, 
took  up  the  body  by  night  and  buried  it  in  her 
garden  on  the  Ostian  Way,  where  to-day  stands  in 

(Migne  Ixxvii),  though  its  sources  are  much  older.  The  Liber  Ponti- 
ficalis,H5Q,  places  the  execution  'hard  by'  the  burial-place.  The 
Tre  Fontane  certainly  seems  a  long  way  for  lazy  soldiers  to  go  to 
execute  a  Jew.  Possibly  the  Three  Fountains  were  popular  shrines 
of  heathenism,  to  which  at  a  later  date  the  Christian  tradition  was 
transferred,  on  the  plan  of  Gregory  Thaumaturgus  (see  infra  p.  133). 

In  certain  MSS  of  the  Ada  Petri  et  Pauli  we  find  added  a  late 
variation  or  addition  consisting  of  the  story  of  a  Perpetua  and  her 
handkerchief  (see  Tisch.  AAA  35,  Lipsius  and  Bonnet  AAA  i  213 ; 
also  in  Clark's  ANCL  xvi  276).  To  the  simple  statement  of  the 
older  Acta  *  that  Paul  was  beheaded  on  the  Ostesian  (Ostian)  Way,' 
cf.  Lib.  Pontif.  supra,  we  find  the  addition :  '  at  Aquae  Salviae  near 
a  pine-tree.'  Lanciani  PCR  157  points  out  that  in  1875  the 
Trappists,  who  occupied  the  memorial  abbey  of  the  Tre  Fontane, 
in  the  course  of  excavations  discovered  a  mass  of  coins  of  Nero 
together  with  several  pine  cones  fossilized  by  age.  But  this  only 
proves  that  the  pines  were  there  when  the  later  Acta  was  written, 
and  that  its  author  was  a  realist.  Possibly  this  Gnostic  romance  is 
the  real  source  of  the  tradition  mentioned  by  Gregory. 

1  Hare  Walks  in  Rome  ii  414  for  the  story. 

*  Probably  he  was  one  of  the  honestiores.    See  infra  p.  64  n. 

*  Lucina  is,  perhaps,  a  mere  confusion  of  name  with  a  later  Lucina, 
who,  in  252,  according  to  a  late  account,  buried  the  remains  of  St. 
Paul  and  St.  Peter  in  her  garden.    See  LP  i  66,  150-2,  and  infra 
p.  262  n.     Probably,  however,  the    tradition  alludes  to  Pomponia 
Graecina,  in  whose  story  a  *  Lucina '  occurs.    See  infra  p.  61  n.  3. 


42          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

his    name    one    of   the    most    stately  churches   of 
Christendom. 

Constantine,  when  he  built  the  first  basilica  of 
St.  Paul's,  is  said  to  have  placed  the  body  in  a 
coffin  of  solid  bronze.1  If  so  the  coffin  was  stolen  or 
destroyed,  probably  with  its  contents,  at  the  time  of 
the  sack  of  the  church  by  the  Saracens  in  846.2  All 
that  can  be  seen  to-day  is  a  slab  of  marble,  with 
the  words  somewhat  rudely  carved  thereon — 

PAVLO  APOSTOLO  MART.' 

But  Western  Christianity  itself  is  really  his  monu- 
ment.4 

The  date  and  circumstances  of  the  martyrdom  of 
St.  Peter  are  even  more  uncertain.5  According  to  an 
ancient  story,  the  truth  of  which  we  see  no  reason  to 
doubt,  the  Apostle  saw  his  wife  suffer  first,  one  of  the 
many  victims  of  Nero's  cruelty.  'Then  was  the 
blessed  Peter  glad  because  she  had  been  called  and 
was  now  going  home.  So  he  lifted  up  his  voice  and 
cried  to  her  in  an  encouraging  voice,  addressing 
her  by  name,  and  saying,  "  0  thou,  remember  the 
Lord."  Such  was  the  marriage  of  the  blessed  ones 
and  their  perfect  love.' 6 

Duchesne  LP  i  178. 

See  Gregorovius  Eome  in  MA  (Trans.  Hamilton  1895)  iii  89  n., 
LP  ii  (s.r.  Sergius  II.)  says  nothing  as  to  the  matter,  unfortunately. 

LP  i  195  or  Lanciani  PCR  157. 

For  the  sources  and  evidence  see  Appendix  C. 

The  festival  of  "  St.  Peter  ad  vincula,"  as  well  as  the  churches 
of  that  dedication  both  in  Rome  and  London  (Tower  of  L.),  refer  to 
St.  Peter's  imprisonment  in  Acts  xii.  The  reference  to  Nero  is  of 
late  origin.  See  A.SS  June  vii  410. 

8  Clem.  Alex.  Strom,  vii  11,  63,  quoted  also  in  Euseb.  HE  iii  30. 


THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  43 

Very  beautiful  is  the  story  of  St.  Peter's  own 
release,  though,  unfortunately,  its  historical  value  is 
not  without  doubt.  When  the  persecution  of  Nero 
broke  out,  the  Apostle,  who  had  arrived  in  Eome,  as 
we  read  it,  towards  the  close  of  St.  Paul's  first 
captivity,1  was  persuaded  to  flee.  So  in  the  dead  of 
night  Peter  left  the  city,  and  hastened  down  the 
Appian  Way.  But  when  he  came  to  a  place  where 
to-day  there  stands  a  chapel  with  the  legend  Domine 
quo  vadis,2  then — 

The  traditional  name  of  the  wife  (Concordia)  is  probably  derived  from 
Clement's  '  perfect  love.' 

1  The  Lib.  Pontif.  i  118,  as  Duchesne  owns,  119  n.,  expressly  states 
that  St.  Peter  entered  Rome  '  Nerone  Caesare.'  So  also  Lactant.  de 
mort.  Per  sec.  2.  But  he  certainly  was  not  there  when  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  ended.  I  see  no  reason  for  doubting  that  the  Apostles  worked 
harmoniously  in  later  life,  and  that  St.  Peter,  knowing  St.  Paul's 
intention  to  leave  Rome,  hastened  to  take  his  place,  or  possibly,  as 
Chase  suggests  (DB  iii  778),  to  confer  with  him  as  to  the  best  way  of 
welding  Christianity  together.  I  prefer  this  to  Lightfoot's  idea  (Gal. 
337)  of  a  double  Church,  Jewish  and  Gentile,  with  a  double  founda- 
tion (one  Peter,  the  other  Paul)  and  a  double  succession  of  bishops. 
This  last,  it  is  true,  would  solve  a  few  puzzles  in  the  early  lists,  but 
would  introduce  new  difficulties. 

*  This  familiar  story  is  first  found  in  the  Gnostic  Acts  of  Peter  in 
the  so-called  Linus  document.  (See  Lipsius  and  Bonnet  AAA  i  7  and 
infra  App.  C  §  VI.).  This  Gnostic  romance  was  written  at  the  latest 
about  the  middle  of  the  third  century  (Harnack  GAL.  i  552  ff.),  if  not 
a  century  earlier  (Chase  in  DB  iii  774).  The  story  is  also  found  in  the 
catholic  Acts  of  Peter,  a  late  fifth-century  romance,  based,  however,  on 
second-century  traditions  (DCS  i  27),  where,  however,  it  is  absurdly 
put  into  the  mouth  of  St.  Peter  on  the  cross  (Lipsius  AAA  i  215). 

The  story  has  passed  into  Western  literature  through  the  Pseudo- 
Ambrose  Sermo  contra  Auxentium  Invasorem  (see  Ambrose,  ed.  Bene- 
dictine, ii  867),  and  will  be  found  in  the  A.SS  June  vol.  v  pp.  427-8. 
Chase,  DB  iii  775,  suggests  as  origin  the  dramatization  of  John  xiii 
36-8  (in  Vulgate  '  Domine  quo  vadia ').  A  more  likely  solution  would 


44          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

Lo  on  the  darkness  brake  a  wandering  ray  ; 
A  vision  flashed  along  the  Appian  Way. 
Divinely  on  the  pagan  night  it  shone — 
A  mournful  Face — a  Figure  hurrying  on — 
Though  haggard  and  dishevelled,  frail  and  wora, 
A  King,  of  David's  lineage,  crowned  with  thorn. 
"  Lord,  whither  farest  ?  "  Peter,  wondering,  cried, 
"To  Rome,"  said  Christ,  "  to  be  re-crucified."  1 

•  Whereupon  Peter ' — we  cite  the  Pseudo- Ambrose — *  perceived  that 
Christ  must  be  crucified  a  second  time  in  his  little  servant.  And 
he  turned  and  went  back  and  made  answer  to  the  Christians  as  they 
questioned  him,  and  forthwith  men  laid  hands  upon  him,  and  by 
his  cross  he  glorified  the  Lord  Jesus.' 

Thus  Peter,  as  our  Lord  had  prophesied,2  was 
'  girt '  by  another,  and  '  carried  '  out  to  die  along  the 
Aurelian  Way,  to  a  place  hard  by  the  gardens  of 
Nero  on  the  Vatican  hill.  At  his  own  request  he  was 
crucified  head  downwards,  as  unworthy  to  suffer  like 
his  Master.3  Where  he  died  he  was  buried  '  under 

seem  to  me  to  be  the  following :  (i)  St.  Peter  clearly  was  absent  from 
Rome  when  II  Tim,  was  written,  (ii)  yet  in  tradition  he  was  executed 
at  the  same  time  as  St.  Paul.  This  temporary  absence,  the  cause 
of  which  may  have  been  that  hinted  at  in  the  story,  gave  rise  to  the 
legend,  which  was  possibly  developed  in  the  third  century  when 
**  flight "  became  a  burning  question.  (Infra,  p.  343  n.) 

1  William  Watson.     Poems. 

2  John  xxi  18,  19.     Tert.  Scorp.  15  points  this  out. 

3  Origen,  in  Euseb.  HE  iii  i,  amplified  in  Jerome    Vir.  III.  1, 
Farrar  (EDO  in  Zoc.),  discovers  a  contradiction  with  Tert.  Praes.  36, 
'  Ubi  Petrus  passioni  Dominicae  adaequatur.'    But  *  adaequatur '  may 
well  mean  *  conformed,'  and  does  not  tie  down  to  details.     This  was 
exactly  one  of  the  '  mockeries '  (ludilria)  in  which  Tacitus  tells  us  (xv 
44)  Nero  delighted.    For  similar  cases  of.  Euseb.  HE  viii  8.    The 
tale  of  St.  Peter's  crucifixion  is  also  in  the  ancient  Syriac  Sermon  of 
Simon  Cepha  (Cureton  Ancient  Syriac  Documents  40  or  Clark  ANCL 
xx  (2)  55)      In  its  present  form  this  work  is  of  5th-century  origin 


THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  45 

a  terebinth/  close  to  the  obelisk  of  Nero,  where  to-day 
the  world's  most  splendid  temple  rises  to  his 
memory.1 

According  to  an  old  tradition,  St.  Peter  had  been 
accompanied  to  Kome  by  the  Apostle  John.  He  too 
was  seized  by  the  police  and  condemned  to  be 
plunged  into  a  cauldron  of  boiling  oil  at  a  spot  near 
the  Latin  Gate.8  By  what  Providence  St.  John 
escaped  we  know  not,  but  in  the  Apocalypse  as  we 
interpret  it,  we  have  "  the  cry  of  horror  of  a  witness 
who  has  known  the  Beast,  who  has  seen  the  bleeding 
bodies  of  his  brother  martyrs,"  3  and  who  in  his  exile 
at  Patmos  tells  us  of  the  afflictions  and  consolations 
of  the  children  of  God.  In  his  fierce  song  over  the 
burning  of  Borne — in  Patmos  he  dreamed  not  of  the 

and  of  monophysite  colouring  (J)CB  i  20),  but  founded  on  older 
materials.  See  also  Lipsius  AAA  i  215. 

1  For  sources  and  critical  discussion  see  Appendix  0. 

2  Tert.  Praes.  36.  Of.  Jerome  In  Matt,  xx  23,  adv.  Jovin.  i  26,  Origen 
In  Matt.  Horn.  16.     Tertullian,  who  believes  any  fable,  states  that  he 
was  plunged  into  the  cauldron.    This  and  other  similar  tales  are  an 
inference  from  Mk  xvi  18,  a  passage  certainly  not  by  St.  Mark,  and 
absolutely  alien  to  our   Lord's    teaching.      For  its  possible  author 
(Aristion,  see  Papias  in  Euseb.  HE  Hi  39)  see  Swete  St.  Mark  ciii  ff. 

Tertullian's  tale  possesses  possibly  some  basis  of  fact,  the  details  of 
which  are  lost,  but  which  would  explain  St.  John's  subsequent  career. 
Some  event  happened  which  appealed  to  the  popular  superstition, 
and  saved  the  apostle  from  death.  That  the  Latin  Gate  was  not  built 
until  271  is,  of  course,  no  argument  against  the  incident.  Possibly 
there  is  an  allusion  to  this  incident  in  the  title  /j.dpTvs  given  to  St. 
John  by  Poly  crates  in  Euseb.  HE  iii  31.  In  Pseudo-Abdias  Hist. 
Apost.  v  2  (in  Fabricius  Codex  Apoc.  N.T.  ii)  an  early  form  of  this 
Gnostic  tradition  places  it  at  Ephesus.  This  would  be  easier  to 
understand  than  Kome.  But  see  further  in  Appendix  B. 

3  Renan  L'Ant .  198.    For  the  date  and  authorship  of  the  Apocalypse 
eee  infra  Appendix  A  I.  (/•) 


46          PEKSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY   CHURCH 

new  magnificence  with  which  Nero  had  rebuilt  it — as 
well  as  in  the  hatred  of  the  Empire  which  breathes 
through  every  page,  we  see  clearly  some  of  the 
reasons  which  explain  the  attitude  of  the  Govern- 
ment to  the  Christians.1  Intensely  Jewish  as  is  the 
imagery  and  tone  of  the  book  as  a  whole,  the 
Apocalypse,  nevertheless,  means  the  definite  break  of 
the  Church  and  Judaism.  In  the  new  Jerusalem  the 
Apostle  saw  '  no  temple  therein ' ;  '  the  ark  of  the 
covenant '  is  now  in  '  the  temple  of  God  that  is  in 
heaven.'  a 

St.  John's  banishment  to  Patmos  was  itself  a  result 
of  the  great  persecution  of  Nero.3  Hard  labour  for  life 
in  the  mines  and  quarries  of  certain  islands,  especially 
Sardinia,  formed  one  of  the  commonest  punishments 
for  Christians.  The  writer  tells  us  that  he  was  '  the 
brother  and  partaker  with  you  in  the  tribulation,' 
of  those  who  were  suffering  elsewhere  for  the  sake 
of  Christ,  a  statement  which  would  appear  to  rule 
out  voluntary  retirement.4  At  work  in  the  quarries 

1  See  infra  p.  99  ff.  *  Apoc.  xxi  22,  xi  19. 

3  Euseb.  HE  iii  18,  quoting  Irenaeus  Haer.  v  30,  3 ;  dates  as  in 
Domitian.    This  can  be  reconciled  with  the  internal  evidence  of  the 
Apoc.  itself.     See  infra  p.  356.    I  would  suggest,  as  a  second  way  of 
reconciling  the  evidence,  that  while  the  Apocalypse  was  mainly  written, 
in  my  judgement,  in  or  about  69,  the  opportunities  for  a  convict  in 
Patmos  to  transmit  such  a  work  to  the  mainland  were  few — the  letters 
to  the  Seven  Churches  would  be  short  notes  sent  separately,  easily 
concealed — and  consequently  the  publication  of  the  work  as  a  whole 
in  Asia  was  not  until  95  or  so.    The  persecution  of  Domitian  then 
raging  would  give  rise  to  the  impression  that  '  the  vision  was  seen  in 
our  time,'  as  Irenaeus  states.     For  similar  misdating  through  the 
same  cause  see  infra  p.  329  n. 

4  Apoc.  i  9.    Against  EB  25H. 


THE  MASTER  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  47 

or  engaged  in  other  convict  task — mines  in  the 
island  there  are  none — the  seer  dreamed  his  dreams 
and  saw  his  visions.  He  stood  on  the  shore  of  the 
sea  and  beheld  the  Beast  rise  out  of  the  waves,  he 
saw  the  battle  joined,  he  heard  the  clash  of  arms  in 
heaven  and  hell,  he  rejoiced  in  victory  won,  and  the 
descent  of  the  City  of  God.  In  the  long  weary  years 
of  exile  his  faith  in  the  future  never  grows  faint ; 
he  brings  in  a  new  world  to  redress  the  balance  of 
the  old. 

We  know  nothing  of  the  events  which  secured  St. 
John's  release  from  this  convict  settlement.  The 
fall  of  Domitian  and  the  annulment  of  his  acts  l  may 
have  led,  as  Clement  of  Alexandria  tells  us,  to  an 
amnesty  for  the  Apostle,2  after  a  quarter  of  a  century 
of  suffering.  More  probably,  in  our  judgement,  he  had 
been  banished  not  so  much  by  direct  imperial  as  by 
magisterial  sentence3 — perhaps  by  the  magistrates 
of  Ephesus — which  in  some  way  or  other  became 
reversed.  There  are  grounds  also  for  thinking  that 
the  Apostle  returned  from  Patmos  to  Ephesus  already 

1  This  explanation  will  also  apply  if  St.  John  was  banished  in 
the  regency  of  Domitian  in  A.D.  70.    See  App.  A  (6). 

2  Clem.  Alex.  Quit  Dive*  Salvetur  c  42.    (Ed.  Barnard  TSv  p.  32.) 
But  rov  rvpdwov  is  unspecified  in  the  bestMSS.,  and  may  mean  Nero 
in  spite  of  Euseb.  HE  iii  23. 

3  Patmos  was  not  an  imperial  convict  settlement.    Moreover,  the 
word  used  (Tert.  Praes.  36)  is  relegatio,  not  the  stricter  deportatio. 
This  did  not  carry  loss  of  property  or  citizenship  (Dig.  xlviii  22,  17 ; 
22, 14).    Moreover,  says  the  Digest  (xlviii  22,  7),  'there  is  this  differ- 
ence between  deportatio  and  relegatio,  that  relegatio  to  an  island  may 
be  either  perpetual  or  for  a  time.'    See  also  Neumann  RSK  i  147, 
215.    It  would  be  easier  also  to  explain  the  annulling  a  magisterial 
sentence  than  an  imperial, 


48          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

his  home  before  his  exile,1  some  years  before  the 
death  of  Domitian.a  But  whatever  the  cause  or 
date  of  his  release,  we  believe  that  for  the  Apostle 
of  love  peace  was 

The  soft  seal  of  long  life's  closing  story. 

He  lived  through  the  horrors  of  two  great  persecu- 
tions, and  died  quietly  in  extreme  old  age  at  Ephesus, 
possibly  as  late  as  the  reign  of  Trajan — 3 

And  now  the  man 
Lies  as  he  lay  once,  breast  to  breast  with  God. 

1  An  inference  from  his  Epistles  to  the  Seven  Churches  in  the 
Apoc.  The  objection  that  he  is  not  mentioned  in  St.  Paul's  Ephesians 
(so-called)  or  Colossians  falls  to  the  ground  if  (assuming  their  genuine- 
ness) they  were  written  at  Caesarea  (57-9),  for  which  early  date  there 
is  much  to  be  said.  In  that  case  they  would  merely  fix  the  terminus 
a  quo  of  St.  John's  possible  residence.  This  is  confirmed  by  the 
silence  of  St.  Paul  in  Acts  xx  17-38.  The  authorities  for  the  residence 
of  John  in  Asia  are  collected  in  Swete  Apoc.  clxxiii. 

3  The  beautiful  tale  of  St.  John  and  the  robber  (Clem.  Alex.  I.e. 
p.  47  n.)  cannot,  I  think,  have  taken  place  in  extreme  old  age ;  to 
which  more  appropriately  belongs  Jerome's  '  Little  children,  love  one 
another '  ( Jer.  in  Gal.  vi  10),  and  Cassian's  tale  of  the  tame  partridge 
(Coll.  xxiv  21).  The  tale  of  Cerinthus  and  the  bath-house  I  should 
reject,  in  spite  of  Irenaeus  Haer.  iii  3,  4.  St.  John,  as  a  Jew,  would 
scarcely  go  to  the  public  bath-house.  If  it  is  true  I  should  assign  it 
to  John  the  Elder  (cf.  II  John  10). 

3  See  on  this  matter,  as  well  as  on  other  problems  connected  with 
St.  John,  Appendix  B.  The  Catholic  redaction  of  the  Leucian  or 
Gnostic  Acts  of  John  (DCB  i  29)  cannot  rest  without  adorning  the 
tale  of  his  departure  with  legendary  particulars  exalting  his  virginity, 
&c.  See  Tisch.  AAA  272  ff;  Lipsius  and  Bonnet  AAA  ii  (1)  150  ff ; 
Clark  ANCL  xvi  449. 


CHAPTER  II 
CAESAR  OB  CHRIST 


Behold,  I  send  you  forth  as  sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves  ...  for 
they  will  deliver  you  up  to  councils  (els  <rvvf8pia)  and  in  their  syna- 
gogues they  will  scourge  you;  yea,  and  before  procurators  and 
emperors  (fiyefdvas  5e  Kal  /3ao-i/\.e?s)  shall  ye  be  brought  for  My  sake.  .  .  . 
And  ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  men  for  My  name's  sake  (5i&  rb  ovojj.4. 
/tou).  Fear  them  not  therefore.— Matt,  x  16-26. 

BaffiXevovros  ets  TOVS  alums 

'irjffOV  XpKTTOV 

(See  infra,  p.  103). 

Considering  the  issue  of  their  life,  imitate  their  faith;  Jesua 
Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever. — Heb.  xiii  7,  8. 

Think  not  that  I  came  to  send  peace  on  earth :  I  came  not  to  send 
peace,  but  a  sword.—  Matt,  x  34. 


CONTENTS 

§  I,  p.  51.  Conflict  of  Christianity  and  Eome  unavoidable — The 
origin  of  the  struggle — The  fire  of  Rome — Nero's  policy — The 
Flavians  and  Christianity — Judaism  as  a  rettgio  licita — Early 
result  of  this  upon  Christianity — Christianity  and  Judaism 
distinguished  by  Roman  officials — Causes  and  date  of  the 
distinction — The  case  of  Pomponia  Graecina. 

§  II,  p.  62.  The  Christians  charged  with  anarchism — Treated  as  out- 
laws— Results  of  the  charge — Christianity  put  down  by  police 
measures. 

§  III,  p.  66.  The  Empire  and  sodalities— The  danger  of  unlicensed 
clubs— An  age  of  clubs— Were  the  Christians  punished  for 
belonging  to  illegal  clubs  ? 

§  IV,  p.  73.  The  Roman  Empire  and  toleration — Orontes  flows  into 
the  Tiber  —  Religious  opportunism  —  Toleration  and  political 
considerations — The  case  of  Druidism — Toleration  and  contempt 
— Toleration  merely  a  Roman  form  of  Home  Rule — Toleration 
of  a  universal  creed  impossible  for  the  Empire. 

§  V,  p.  81.  Roman  toleration  of  Isis  and  Mithra — Examination  of 
this — The  different  treatment  of  Christianity — Causes  thereof — 
The  effects  of  syncretism — The  revival  of  paganism. 

§  VI,  p.  88.  Religion  and  patriotism — The  intolerance  of  Christianity 
—The  charge  of  '  atheism  ' — The  reasons  for  the  charge — '  One 
god,  lonely  and  forsaken' — "Mediatised  gods" — Christianity 
and  *  the  monarchy.' 

§  VII,  p.  94.  The  worship  of  Rome  and  Augustus — Its  growth — 
Antinoiis  —  Christianity  and  the  imperial  cult  —  Necessary 
antagonism  of  Caesar  and  Christ — The  festivals  of  Caesar  and 
the  outbreak  of  persecution — '  The  reign  of  the  Eternal  King.' 

§  VIII,  p.  103.  Summary  of  the  chapter. 

Pp.  49-104. 


PERSECUTION  in  its  origin  must  be  ascribed  to  the 
Jews;  it  was  really  an  attempt  of  the  hierarchy  to 
crush  out  the  new  sect.  But  within  a  few  years  perse- 
cution ceased  to  be  Jewish,  and  became  Imperial,  thus 
realizing  the  determination  of  the  Jews  from  Calvary 
onwards.  In  opposition  to  the  infant  Church  there 
arose  the  might  of  Kome.  The  conflict  was  inevitable, 
the  direct  result  of  the  genius  of  Christianity.  A 
Christianity  which  had  ceased  to  be  aggressive  would 
speedily  have  ceased  to  exist.  Christ  came  not  to  send 
peace  on  earth  but  a  sword ;  against  the  restless  and 
resistless  force  of  the  new  religion  the  gates  of  hell 
should  not  prevail.  But  polytheism  could  not  be 
dethroned  without  a  struggle ;  nor  mankind  regene- 
rated without  a  baptism  of  blood.  Persecution,  in 
fact,  is  the  other  side  of  aggression,  the  inevitable 
outcome  of  a  truly  missionary  spirit;  the  two  are 
linked  together  as  action  and  reaction.  To  the 
student  of  ancient  history  all  this  will  appear  in- 
telligible, perhaps  even  axiomatic.  "  The  birth- 
throes  of  the  new  religion  must  needs  be  agonizing. 
The  religion  of  the  civilized  world  was  passing  through 
Medea's  cauldron.1 "  Out  of  the  cauldron  there  would 

1  Henderson  PN  355. 


52          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

come  a  new  world,  but  not  without  fire  and  blood. 
Persecution,  in  short,  is  no  mere  incident  in  the  life  of 
the  Church  which  might  possibly  have  been  avoided. 
Not  so  do  we  read  either  history  or  Christianity. 
Persecution  rather  was  the  necessary  antagonism  of 
certain  fundamental  principles  and  policies  in  the 
Empire  of  Caesar  and  the  Kingdom  of  Christ.  But 
on  this  more  anon.  We  shall  do  well  first  to  clear 
up  certain  matters  connected  with  the  early  martyrs 
which  have  given  rise  to  much  controversy.  The  date 
at  which  persecution  began,  the  extent  to  which  it 
prevailed,  its  exact  legal  character,  are  questions  of 
moment  to  which  we  shall  attempt  a  brief  answer. 
We  shall  then  be  in  a  better  position  to  explain  the 
reasons  for  persecution  and  its  true  inwardness  from 
the  standpoint  both  of  the  Empire  and  the  Church. 

Scholars  are  now  fairly  agreed  that  by  the  time  of 
Domitian1  it  had  become  the  settled  policy  of  the 
Koman  emperors,  and  of  the  wonderfully  efficient 
police  administration  which  they  controlled,  to  treat 
Christianity  as  itself  a  crime.  But  in  our  judgement 
Domitian  was  not  the  originator  of  a  new  departure. 
The  establishment  of  this  policy  in  the  first  instance 

1  Before  the  researches  of  Neumann,  Lightfoot,  Mommsen,  Hardy, 
and  Ramsay,  the  majority,  perhaps,  of  modern  scholars,  especially  in 
Germany,  were  given  to  dating  persecution  as  not  earlier  than 
Trajan's  Rescript  (see  infra  p.  212),  or  even  Septimius  Severus,  On 
this  as  a  basis  many  theories  were  founded,  e.g.  that  any  document 
which  mentioned  'the  Name'  as  the  ground  of  death  (I  Pet.  iv  15> 
16,  Apoo.  ii  13,  Matt,  x  22)  must  be  later  than  Trajan's  Rescript.  For 
the  history  of  this  theory  up  to  1885  see  Lightfoot,  Ign.  i.  7  n.  Nero's 
persecution  was  got  over  by  claiming  that  it  was  either  an  isolated 
case  or  not  of  Christians  at  all ;  see  infra  Appendix  D  (a). 


CAESAR  OR  CHRIST  53 

was  due  to  Nero.  On  the  evening  of  July  19, 64,  there 
broke  out  in  Eome  a  disastrous  fire,  the  least  effect  of 
which  was  the  burning  down  of  no  small  part  of  the 
congested  quarters  of  the  city.  The  fire  marks  a 
crisis  in  the  fortunes  of  the  Church,  the  beginning  of 
an  era  of  persecution  which  lasted  for  over  two 
centuries.  In  a  well-known  chapter  of  Tacitus,1 — the 
meaning  of  which  is  by  no  means  as  clear  as  we 
should  wish,  though  its  genuineness  seems  beyond 
dispute — we  read  : 

'Neither  human  assistance  in  the  shape  of  imperial  gifts,  nor 
attempts  to  appease  the  gods,  could  remove  the  sinister  report  that 
the  fire  was  due  to  Nero's  own  order.2  And  so,  in  the  hope  of 
dissipating  this  rumour,  he  falsely  diverted  the  charge  on  to  a  set  of 
people  to  whom  the  vulgar  gave  the  name  of  Chrestians,3  and  who 
were  detested  for  the  abominations  which  they  perpetrated.  The 
founder  of  this  name,  one  Christus  by  name,  had  been  executed  by 
Pontius  Pilate  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius ;  and  the  dangerous  superstition, 
though  put  down  for  the  moment,  again  broke  out,  not  only  in  Judea, 
the  original  home  of  the  pest,  but  even  in  Rome,  where  everything 
horrible  and  shameful  collects  and  is  practised.* 

The  charge  of  incendiarism  broke  down  completely, 
both  with  the  Koman  judges  and  with  the  populace.4 

1  Tac.  Ann.   xv  44.      But  Suet.  Nero  16  does  not  connect  the 
Christians  or  their  persecution  with  the  fire.    Nor  does  Tert.  Apol.  5. 

2  On  the  question  of  Nero's  complicity  see  Henderson  o.c.  482 ; 
Furneaux  Tac.  Ann.  ii  72. 

3  This  seems  to  be  the  correct  reading.      See  Harnack  EC  ii  19, 
and  cf.  Suet.  Claud.  25, '  Chresto  impulsore.'    Cf.  infra  p.  58.    Tacitus 
silently  corrects  by  giving  the  right  name  of  Jesus  as  Christus.    In 
any  case,  Christiani  at  that  early  date  should  rather  be  translated 
•  Christ's  faction '  than  Christians. 

*  Arnold  NC  20  considers  that  many  of  the  Christians,  whether 
under  torture,  or  because,  as  Millenarians,  they  had  actually  been 
guilty,  confessed  to  the  charge.  He  falls  back  on  the  words  of 
Tacitus  (7.c.),  *  Igitur  primum  correpti  qui,  fatebantur ' — *  Tho§e  were 


54          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

But 

The  lie 
Had  time  on  its  own  wings  to  fly, 

and  was  made  the  occasion — not  without  some  ground 
in  the  incautious  utterances  of  enthusiastic  Millenar- 
ians — of  an  accusation  more  dangerous  by  far,  odium 
generis  humani,  '  hatred  against  civilized  society/ l  or, 
as  we  should  phrase  it  to-day,  the  crime  of  anarchism. 
Not  specific  acts  of  incendiarism,  but  "  the  question 
whether  a  man  was  a  Christian  became  the  most 
essential  part  of  the  charge  against  him."2 

The  policy  of  thus  treating  the  Christians  as 
anarchists,  begun  by  Nero,  was  continued — developed, 
perhaps,  in  some  small  details — by  the  Flavian 

first  brought  to  trial  who  were  admitting  the  charge ' ;  where  some 
would  translate  correpti  as  'arrested.'  We  do  not  deny  that  the 
Christians  may  have  been  guilty  of  wild  talk  about  the  burning  of  the 
world,  &c.,  which  may  have  been  misinterpreted  (see  Duruy  Hist. 
Horn,  iv  511,  Milman  i  456,  Henderson  o.c.  435).  See  infra  p.  153. 
But  the  charge  may  have  been  Christianity,  not  incendiarism,  for 
Tacitus  goes  on  to  add,  'deinde  indicio  eorum  multitude  in  gens  haud 
proinde  in  crimine  incendii  quam  odio  humani  generis  convicti  sunt,' 
— '  And  then  from  information  gained  from  them  a  great  number  of 
people  were  convicted,  not  so  much  on  the  charge  of  incendiarism  as  on 
that  of  danger  to  civilization.'  [The  MSS.  for  convicti  read  conjunct^ 
which  Ramsay  takes  to  mean  'were  involved  in  their  fate'(C7i.Z£ 
233,  n.)  But  see  Furneaux  in  loo.]  For  the  idea  that  the  Christians 
turned  informers  see  infra  App.  D  (c). 

1  This  phrase  of  Tacitus  (I.e.)  might  be  translated,  as  by  Tillemont, 
Duruy,  and  others,  '  hatred  of  all  men  for  the  Christians.'  But  Tac. 
Hist,  v  5  (re  Jews)  settles  the  matter.  Cf.  Tert.  Apol  37,  « You  have 
chosen  to  call  us  enemies  of  the  human  race,  rather  than  of  human 
error ' ;  ib.  35,  *  publici  hostes.'  Minuc.  Felix  Oct.  8, 9  supplies  illustra- 
tions. For  'genus  humanum'=  the  Roman  world,  cf.  Luke  ii  1  and 
Hardy  CEG  74,  n. 

8  Furneaux  Tac.  ii  529. 


CAESAR  OB   CHRIST  55 

emperors  Titus  and  Domitian,1  and  by  the  Antonines 
after  them,  as  a  cardinal  principle  of  imperial  govern- 
ment. In  this  they  were  aided  by  the  revulsion  of 
feeling  which  Christianity  had  aroused  against  itself 
among  the  masses  of  the  people,  and  the  rumours 
already  current  of  its  impure  orgies.2  Long  before 

1  Hilary  of  Poictiers  (c.  Arian.  3)  adds  Vespasian.  Ramsay  (ChE 
256,  n.)  treats  this  as  an  error  for  Domitian.  But  Hilary  may  have  had 
access  to  materials  now  lost  (Lightf.  Ign.  i  16),  or  may  have  referred 
to  local  troubles  in  Gaul  (ib .  Clem,  i  350).  This  last  seems  to  me  very 
doubtful;  see  supra  p.  36  n  4.  The  passage  in  Suet.  Vesp.  15,  which 
Ramsay  (o.c.  257)  restores  as  further  proof  of  Vespasian's  persecutions, 
can  scarcely  claim  to  be  more  than  a  plausible  guess.  On  the  other 
hand,  there  was  undoubtedly  a  persecution  of  Jews  under  Vespasian 
(Euseb.  HE  iii  12,  on  which  see  Schiirer  o.c.  ii  (1)  279)  which  may  well 
have  included  Christians.  The  authority  for  coupling  Titus  with  the 
persecutors  is  a  passage  in  Sulpic.  Severus  Cliron.  ii  c  30,  6  : '  Everten- 
dum  templum  .  . .  censebant  quo  plenius  Judaeorum  et  Christianoruin 
religio  tolleretur,'  etc.  Severus,  it  is  true,  is  a  late  author,  but  there  are 
grounds  for  believing,  as  Bernays  has  shown,  that  this  passage  is  a 
reproduction  from  the  lost  books  of  Tac.  Annals.  See  Ramsay  ChE 
253-5,  Lightf.  Ign.  i  15,  n.  But  the  interpretation  of  the  passage 
seems  to  me  doubtful,  though  I  do  not  doubt  the  continuity  of  the 
imperial  policy.  Further  evidence  for  persecution  under  Flavian  em- 
perors besides  Domitian  will  depend  on  the  date  we  assign  to  the  Apoc. 
and  I.  Peter.  On  this  see  infra  App.  A.  In  addition  there  is  the  im- 
portant inference  from  Pliny's  letter.  See  infra  p.  210  n.  It  is  scarcely 
needful  to  add  that  the  martyrdom  of  Gaudentius,  the  fabled  Christian 
architect  of  Coliseum  (see  Hare  Walks  in  Rome  L  232)  is  a  myth. 

1  see  no  reason  to  accept  Ramsay's  view  that  while  Nero  punished 
Christians  for  definite  offences,  or  rather  charges,  incendiarism,  magic 
(see  infra  p.  133),  &c.,  the  Flavians  began  to  punish  for  Christianity 
itself—'  the  Name.*    (Ramsay  o.c.  251  ff.)    The  view  is  rejected  by 
most  modern  scholars.    Mommsen  (Expos.  July,  1893),   Sanday  (ib. 
June,   1893),  Hardy  (o.c.   90,  125),  Henderson  (o.c.  251,  448,  "the 
name  was  enough "),  Furneaux  (o.c.  ii  529),  all  hold  that  after  64 
(Henderson  exaggerates  into  "  before  ")  Christians  were  punished  for 
*  the  Name '  alone.     See  supra  p.  40. 

2  According  to  Tac.  (7.c.)  *  quos  per  flagitia  invisos  vulgus  Chrestianos 


56        '  PEKSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

the  close  of  the  century  the  prophecy  of  Christ  had 
come  true :  the  Christians  were  hated  of  all  men 
'  because  of  the  name '  (Matt,  x  22). 

Leaps  and  bounds  are  as  alien  to  history  as  in 
nature.  We  must  not,  therefore,  imagine  that  Chris- 
tianity suddenly  became  a  persecuted  religion  in  the 
year  64,  though  hitherto  it  had  enjoyed  a  certain 
measure  of  protection,  possibly  even  favour,  from  the 
Eoman  Government.  True  it  is,  as  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles  shows,  and  as  Gibbon  claims,  that  in 
the  earlier  days  the  Christians  found  that  "the 
tribunal  of  the  pagan  magistrates  often  proved  the 
most  assured  refuge  against  the  fury  of  the  syna- 
gogue." l  But  the  cause  of  this  was  not  any  official 
countenance  of  Christianity  as  such,  but  a  careless 
indifference  to  what  appeared  the  mere  minutiae  of 
Judaism.  Judaism  was  a  religio  licita*  and  Christi- 
anity at  first  seems  to  have  been  confused  with  it3  and 
thus  to  have  obtained  a  certain  measure  of  protection 
as  against  the  Gentiles  from  the  authorities.  But  the 
hatred  of  the  synagogues  soon  undeceived  the  Kornan 
world,  and  persecution,  instead  of  being,  as  hitherto, 
the  work  of  the  mob  stirred  up  by  Jewish  gold,  became 
the  duty  of  the  Empire.  To  this  last,  in  fact,  the 
bureaucracy  was  driven  by  the  political  charges 

(stc)  appellabat,'  this  hatred  was  a  real  thing  in  64 ;  unless  indeed 
Tacitus  is  reading  in  the  feelings  of  his  own  age.  But  see  infra  p.  61. 

1  Gibbon  ii  83.     Cf.  the  death  of  James,  supra  p.  27,  n. 

2  For  the  privileges  of  Judaism,  see  infra  p.  108.    The  phrase 
religio  licita  is  derived  from  Tert.  Apol.  21 « insignissima  religio,  certe 
licita.'    The  Roman  law  only  speaks  of  collegia  licita. 

»  Cf.  Suet.  Claud.  25  quoted  infra  App.  D  (a). 


CAESAR  OB  CHRIST  57 

which  the  Jews  brought  against  the  new  sect,  a 
weapon  the  value  of  which  they  had  learned  on 
Calvary.1 

We  can  date  with  some  certainty  this  distinction 
in  the  official  mind  between  Jew  and  Christian  as 
first  becoming  clear  in  the  summer  of  64.  The  ac- 
quittal of  St.  Paul  in  61  or  62— an  event  we  may 
fairly  assume  as  probable — is  proof  that  in  that  year 
Christianity,  a  distinct  name  for  which  was  only 
slowly  coming  into  use,  could  still  claim  that  it  was 
a  religio  licita,  i.e.  as  St.  James  would  have  put  it, 
still  recognised  as  a  branch  of  Judaism.  But  soon 
after,  as  Tacitus  shows,2  Christians  as  such,  as  distinct 
from  the  Jews,  came  under  the  ban  of  the  Empire. 
The  Jews,  working  probably  through  Poppaea,  the 
famous  mistress  and  wife  of  Nero,  whose  superstitious 
nature  led  her  to  dally  with  Judaism,  or  through 
Aliturus,  a  favourite  Jewish  mime,3  took  the  oppor- 
tunity of  the  great  fire  and  the  need  of  a  scapegoat 
to  save  themselves  and  at  the  same  time  to  wreak 
vengeance  on  the  Christians.  At  any  rate,  both 
Nero  and  Eome  now  clearly  distinguished  between  the 
religio  licita  of  Judaism  and  the  new  sect,  the  majority 
of  whose  members  possibly  were  already  Gentiles.4 

1  Acts  xvii  7,  xxv  8. 

2  Tac.  Ann.  xv  44.     The  lost  section  of  Tao.  Hist,  v,  as  preserved 
for  us  in  Sulpic.  Severus  Chron.  ii  30,  6-8  (supra  55  n.)  is  proof  that 
the  two  were  distinguished  before  71.    See  also  I  Pet.  iv  16. 

3  For  the  influence  of  Aliturus  on  Poppaea  and  his  continued 
interest  in  Judaism  see  Josephus  Vita  c.  3.    For  Poppaea's  Jewish 
leanings,  ib.  Antiq.  xx  8, 11  (0eoerej8fc)- 

*  But  see  infra  p.  233  n.    At  any  rate  they  were  Greek  speaking 
Jews. 


58          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

The  destruction  of  Jerusalem  would  remove  the 
last  elements  of  confusion.  The  breach  between 
Judaism  and  Christianity  was  now  complete,  while 
the  forced  registration  of  all  Jews,  and  the  payment 
by  them  of  two  drachmas  a  head  to  the  temple  of 
Jupiter  Capitolinus  at  Eome,  would  enable  the 
officials  to  discover  whether  a  Christian  was  or  was 
not  entitled  to  the  protection  of  the  religio  licita.  A 
more  speedy  method  of  identification  was  also  avail- 
able. The  second  generation  of  Christians,  led  by  St. 
Paul,  had  discontinued  circumcision.  The  Christians 
also,  hitherto  distinguished  by  mere  sub-titles  of 
Judaism — The  Way,  Nazarenes,  and  the  like — had 
now  found,  or  rather  had  foisted  upon  them,  a 
distinctive  name  of  their  own.1 

1  The  course  of  events  becomes  clearer  if  we  remember  that  the 
Christians  did  not  start  with  a  ready-made  label.  The  title  Christian, 
i.e.'  Christ's  faction'  (cf.  Fompeiani,  &c.),  was  a  bitter  nickname  of  Latin 
formation  (and  so  but  vernacular  Greek),  invented  either  by  the  wits 
or  magistrates  of  Antioeh  (inference  from  its  Latin  form),  which  may 
have  been  originally  (Suet.  Claud.  25,  '  Chresto  impulsore  '),  and  was 
etill  popularly,  mispronounced  as  "  Chrestian  "  as  late  as  Tcrtullian. 
(Cf.  Justin  I.  Apol.  4, '  We  are  accused  of  being  Christians,  yet  to  hate 
what  is  Chrestian  (excellent)  is  unjust.'  Tert.  Apol.  3,  *  For  you  do 
not  even  know  accurately  the  name  you  hate ' ;  ad  Nat.  3  ;  Lactantius 
In&tit.  iv  7 ;  so  tf  in  I  Pet.  iv  16  and  Acts  xi  26,  and  the  best  MSS.  in 
Tac.  Ann.  xv  44.  Cf.  Le  Blant  SAM  312.)  The  name  at  first  was 
resented  and  ignored  by  the  Christians  (e.g.  Acts  xxvi  29)  while  to 
the  Jews  the  Christians  were  Nafapaiot  (Acts  xxiv  5,  Tert.  o.  Marc. 
iv  8).  The  name  had  however  caught  on  among  the  mob  of  Rome  by 
64  (Tac.  Z.c.)  and  was  accepted  by  Gentile  Christians  by  the  time  of 
Ignatius  (Eph.  ii,  Rom.  3,  Polyc.  7),  though  the  Christian  Jews  still 
called  themselves  Nazarenes,  even  after  their  retreat  to  Pella,  and 
possibly  still  survive  under  that  name  at  Bussorah  (Encyc.  Brit.  s.v. 
"  Mandaean  ").  For  further  on  the  history  of  the  word  see  Lightf. 
Ign.  i  445  ff. ;  DB  S.T.  ;  Harnack  EG  ii  5  n.,  15-19 ;  i  94  n. 


CAESAR  OR  CHRIST  59 

Many  writers  of  repute  have  objected  to  the  early 
date  at  which  in  our  judgement  the  distinction  be- 
came clear  between  Judaism  and  Christianity.  Some 
extremists,  constructing  facts  to  suit  their  theories, 
have  held  that  the  two  were  confused  until  the  time 
of  Trajan ; l  others,  as  a  concession,  have  moved  the 
date  forward  to  Domitian.2  Such  arguments  do 
strange  injustice  both  to  the  power  of  the  Jews  to 
make  themselves  understood,  and  to  the  vigilance 
of  the  officials  of  the  most  marvellously  organized 
and  centralized  empire  the  world  has  ever  seen.  No 
reader,  for  instance,  of  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas,3  could 
imagine  that  such  violent  hatred  of  the  two  sections4 
would  not  make  itself  manifest  to  the  lynx-eyed 
police  ;  no  historian  who  realized  the  vast  numbers  of 
the  Jews  and  their  world-wide  power 5  could  suppose 
that  the  Jews  allowed  the  hated  sect  to  be  classified 
with  them.  The  English  people,  to  say  nothing  of 
English  governors,  do  not  confuse  Brahmins  and 
Buddhists.  Eoman  officials,  we  may  be  sure,  would 
be  quick  to  note  the  rise  of  a  new  sect.  As  Professor 
Lindsay  points  out : 

"  When  we  remember  the  wise  political  dread  of  religious  combi- 
nations which  the  emperors  from  Augustus  downward  showed ;  their 
discernment  that  religion  was  the  most  powerful  political  motive 

1  Supra  p.  52  n. 

2  Neumann  RSK  i  5  ff.,  14  ff.,  who  thinks  that  it  was  due  to  the 
investigations  of  Domitian's  officials  in  collecting  the  poll-tax. 

1  The  date  of  Barnabas  is  doubtful;  see  infra  p.  116.  But  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles  (a  late  date  for  which  seems  to  me  absurd)  will 
do  as  well  for  the  argument.  See  tupra  p.  56. 

4  Infra  p.  115  ff.  •  Infra  p.  113-4. 


60          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

power  in  the  East ;  the  presence  in  every  province  of  men  trained  to 
note  the  beginnings  of  all  movements  which  might  disturb  the  state ; 
and  when  we  glance  at  the  objective  picture  of  that  old  system  of 
ruling  provinces  which  modern  India  furnishes — none  but  an  armchair 
critic  would  deny  it.  British  officials  in  India  know  of  all  the  small 
beginnings  of  religious  movements  in  their  districts  long  before  the 
public  know  anything  about  them,  if  they  ever  acquire  the  know- 
ledge." 1 

If,  then,  we  date  the  distinction  between  Jew  and 
Christian  as  first  becoming  officially  clear  in  or  about 
the  summer  of  the  year  64,  we  can  understand  what 
really  took  place  in  the  interesting  case  of  Pomponia 
Graecina.2  This  high-born  Koman  lady,  the  wife  of 
Plautius,  the  conqueror  of  Britain,  may  claim  with 
some  certainty  to  have  been  the  first  Pioman  of  whose 
sufferings  for  the  sake  of  Christ  we  have  any  record. 
In  the  year  57  Pomponia  was  arraigned  before  the 
Senate  on  the  charge  of  '  foreign  superstition,'  and  in 
accordance  with  usage,  handed  over  by  that  court 
to  the  judgement  of  a  family  tribunal.  She  was 
acquitted,  but  for  the  remaining  twenty-six  years  of 
her  life  never  put  off  her  seriousness  of  demeanour  or 
her  deep  mourning.8  Critics  of  repute  have  claimed 
that  this  '  foreign  superstition  *  was  Christianity, 
and  in  the  judgement  of  Lightfoot  "  this  surmise, 
probable  in  itself,  has  been  converted  almost  into  a 

1  Church  and  Ministry  in  Early  Centuries  (1902)  p.  134,  n. 

1  For  this  case  see  Wandinger  Pomponia  Graecina  (1873)  30  ff, 
Lightfoot  Clem,  i  30-2,  Merivale  vi  271-3  (who  rejects),  Henderson 
o.c.  344,  492  (doubtfully),  Allard  Les  Catacombs  (1896)  81-2, 1  HP 
26  ff;  N.  and  B.  RS  i  83,  278-82. 

3  Tac.  Annah  xiii  32,  'longa  huio  Pomponiae  aetas  et  continua 
tristitia  fuit.  ...  per  quadraginta  annos  non  cultu  nisi  lugubri,  non 
animo  nisi  maesto  egit.' 


CAESAR  OR  CHIilST  61 

certainty  by  an  archaeological  discovery  of  recent 
years."  For  do  Eossi  has  shown  that  in  the  so- 
called  crypt  of  Lucina,  a  first-century  fragment  of 
the  catacombs  of  Callistus,  we  have  the  name  of  a 
descendant  or  near  kinsman  of  Pomponia  Graecina.1 
Evidently,  then,  there  were  Christians  in  her  family 
within  a  generation  of  her  trial.  Furthermore,  this 
crypt  must  have  been  built  by  a  lady  of  rank  and 
wealth,  and  as  the  name  Lucina  does  not  occur  else- 
where in  Konian  history,2  De  Bossi  suggests  that  this 
is  none  other  than  the  baptismal  name 3  of  Pomponia 
Graecina,  who,  as  Tacitus  tells  us,  died  in  A.D.  83, 
or  about  the  time  of  the  erection  of  this  crypt.  If 
then,  it  may  be  objected,  Pomponia  was  a  Christian, 
how  can  we  account  for  her  acquittal  ?  Wandinger's 
answer,  adopted  by  Lightfoot,  is  ingenious  and  pro- 
bable. The  real  matter  referred  to  the  judgement  of 
the  domestic  tribunal  was  not  her  faith.  This  neither 
the  Senate  nor  the  family  were  careful  to  distinguish 
from  Judaism,  a  recognized  religion.  She  was  really 
tried  because  of  the  rumours  already  abroad  accus- 
ing the  Christians  of  impure  orgies,*  which  shortly 

1  See  the  plate  in  de  Rossi  R8  xlix  27. 

For  the  two  inscriptions  in  this  crypt  dated  107  and  111  see  de 
Rossi  ICUR  i  3  ff— or  Allard  Les  Catacombs  67-8. 

2  It  was,  however,  common  among  Roman  Christians.   Cf.  Duchcsne 
LP  i  150,  164.    We  find  in  Rome  a  church  of  S.  Lorenzo  in  Lucina, 
as  well  as  a  catacomb  of  Lucina,  both  indications  of  the  high  rank 
of  this  Lucina. 

3  Harnack  EC  ii  41  doubts  this,  but  see  infra  p.  170  n.    No  infer- 
ence can  be  drawn  from  St.  Luke's  Theophilus,  as  the  name  was 
common  among  pagans  and  Jews  (DCA  ii  1373). 

4  I  Pet.  iv  14-16.  When  St.  Paul  arrived  in  Rome  (say  60  at  lategt) 


62          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

afterwards    led    to   such    an    outburst    of    popular 
hatred. 

Thus  the  fire  of  64  did  not  create,  but  brought  to 
a  head  the  growing  suspicion  and  dislike  by  both 
people  and  government  of  this  new  religion,  and  at 
the  same  time  threw  out  into  sharp  relief  its  distinction 
from  Judaism.  Indecision  on  the  part  of  the  executive 
was  now  at  an  end ;  it  was  to  the  advantage  of  Nero, 
in  his  desperate  need  of  popular  favour,  that  it 
should  be.  In  its  place  we  have  a  policy  of  persecu- 
tion. The  persecution,  though  by  no  means  wide- 
spread— Christianity  itself,  be  it  remembered,  as  yet 
only  existed  here  and  there — was  not  confined  to 
Rome,  but  extended  to  various  cities  and  districts  of 
Asia  Minor,  rather,  however,  as  a  police-measure  than 
because  of  any  formal  rescript.1  Within  a  generation 
of  Calvary  the  sheep  were  in  the  midst  of  the  wolves. 


II 

The  imperial  idea  that  Christianity  was  a  danger 
to  the  State  and  civilization  itself,  an  anarchist 
institution,  was  maintained  with  varying  insistence, 
some  modification  in  detail,  and  occasional  intervals  of 
toleration,  from  the  days  of  Nero  to  the  final  victory 

he  was  told  by  the  Jews  that  the  new  sect  (cupeVews,  distinction  not 
yet  absolute)  was  'everywhere  spoken  against'  (Acts  xxviii  21-2). 
Cf.  Tac.  Ann.  xv  44,  quoted  supra  p.  73  n. ;  II  Tim.  ii  8,  where  St.  Paul 
complains  that  he  is  classed  with  malefactors. 

1  For  this  and  other  questions  with  regard  to  the  persecution  of 
Nero  see  Appendix  D. 


CAESAR  OR  CHRIST  63 

of  the  Church  under  Constantine.  To  the  changes 
and  fortunes  of  this  policy  in  the  first  three  centuries, 
as  also  to  the  reasons  which  gave  it  plausibility  and 
credence  with  hoth  statesmen  and  people,  we  shall 
return  later.  Meanwhile  the  student  should  notice 
certain  consequences  of  moment. 

The  charge  of  anarchism  exposed  the  Christians 
to  one  peril  in  special.  It  put  them  outside  the  law 
and  brought  them  under  the  arbitrary  executive  juris- 
diction of  the  magistrates  and  police  superintendents.1 
These,  as  Mommsen  has  pointed  out,  were  entrusted 
with  large  powers  of  immediate  action  (coercitio), 
on  their  own  responsibility,  against  all  persons 
whose  conduct  was  likely  to  lead  to  political  trouble.2 
Just  as  in  modern  Eussia  the  Nihilist  or  the  innocent 
reformer  can  be  arrested  and  sentenced,  even  banished 
for  life  to  Sakhalien,  on  mere  "  administrative  order," 
without  the  pretence  of  trial,  or  the  need  that  the 
bureaucrat  quote  any  law  at  all,3  so  with  the  early 
Christian.  Their  trial  (cognitio) 4  could  be  conducted 
in  private,  the  results  alone  being  made  public.5  In 
the  case  of  Christians  torture  and  death  were  within 
the  magistrates'  competence,  though,  curious  to  say, 
they  were  not  allowed  to  inflict  banishment  (deportatio) 

1  Eirenarchae,  on  whose  functions  for  the  summary  arrest  of  thieves, 
etc.,  see  Hardy  o.c.  76,  n. 

2  Mommsen  PEE  i  351-3 ;  Paulus  Sent,  v  21 ;  Ulpian  Dig.  i  18,  13 ; 
Martian  Dig.  xlviii  13,  14.     See  also  infra  p.  240  n.  1. 

*  In  spite  of  recent  events,  I  leave  this  sentence  as  originally  written 
(July,  1905). 

4  See  for  this  word  infra  p.  212  n. 

s  Mommsen  Horn.  Staatsrecht  (ed.  2,  1887)  ii  p.  964  or  §  926.  See 
also  Ramsay  ChE  216  n. 


64          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

until  the  time  of  Marcus  Aurelius.1  And  the  penalty 
was  fixed ;  '  in  the  case  of  base-born  Christians  (hum- 
liores),  the  fighting  with  beasts  in  the  arena,  or 
the  being  burnt  alive ;  in  the  case  of  Eoman  citizens 
(honestiores),  the  headsman's  sword.' a 

The  reader  who  has  followed  our  argument  will 
find  an  answer  to  the  further  question,  Were  per- 
secutions the  exception  or  the  rule  ?  In  theory, 
Christianity  was  a  hateful  thing,  a  danger  to  society 
and  the  State,  to  be  crushed  out  wherever  found.  In 
practice,  vigilance  varied  considerably;  there  were 
spasms  of  enforcement  of  the  law  followed  by  reactions 
of  indifference  on  the  part  of  both  Government  and 
people.  Persecution  was  also  to  a  large  extent  a 
local  matter  ;  an  outburst  of  popular  hatred  driving 
the  magistrates  to  put  into  force  enactments  that 
would  be  distasteful  to  some  if  only  because  of  the 
extra  work  that  they  involved,  to  others  because  of 
their  consciousness  of  their  futility.  A  modern  illus- 
tration may  make  the  matter  clear.  The  Christian 
was  looked  upon  very  much  as  an  Anarchist  or 
Nihilist  is  looked  upon  by  the  police  of  Paris  or  St. 
Petersburg.  He  is  kept  under  strict  observation ; 
the  police  can  proceed  against  him  any  day  without 

1  Infra  p.  226  n.,  and  Modestinus  in  Dig.  xlviii  19,  30.     This  was 
because  deportatio  involved  the  loss  of  citizenship  as  well  as  goods. 
For  the  case  of  St.  John  (relegaiio)  -see  supra  p.  47  n. 

2  Paulus  Sent  v  29,  1,  makes  this  very  clear.     In  case  of  treason 
'humiliores  bestiis  obiiciuntur  vel  vivi  exuruntur,  honestiores  capite 
puniuniur.'      Christians  for  the    most    part    would  be  among  the 
' humili-ares'     Cf.  also  Ulpian  Dig.  xlviii  13,  7  (similar  penalty  for 
sacrilege),  and  see  infra  p.  219  n.,  for  the  beheading  of  honestiores  ; 
e.g.  Apollonius. 


CAESAR  OR  CHRIST  65 

formality  or  delay.  But  because  of  that  very  fact 
the  Anarchist  is  only  arrested  when  popular  feeling 
or  his  own  doings  demand.  If  he  keep  quiet  the 
police  do  not  trouble  him.  So  with  the  Christian. 
"  The  current  conceptions,"  writes  Mommsen,  "  of 
the  so-called  persecutions  of  the  Christians  labour 
under  a  defective  apprehension  of  the  rule  of  law  and 
the  practice  of  law  subsisting  in  the  Eoman  Empire. 
In  reality  the  persecution  of  the  Christians  was  a 
standing  matter,  as  was  that  of  robbers ;  only  such 
regulations  were  put  into  practice  at  times  more  gently 
or  even  negligently,  at  other  times  more  strictly,  and 
were  doubtless  on  occasion  specially  enforced  from 
high  quarters."  1  These  times  of  "  enforcement  from 
high  quarters  "  formed  the  seasons  of  special  stress 
and  strain  known  to  the  historians  of  the  Church  as 
the  "  General  Persecutions."  To  these  likewise  in 
due  course  we  shall  return.  They  have  received  an 
attention  which  by  its  very  exaggeration  has  spread 
confusion.  Of  more  importance  is  it  that  the  student 
should  realize  that  these  "  general  persecutions  "  are 
but,  as  it  were,  the  coming  to  a  head  of  a  virulence 
against  the  Christians  always  more  or  less  at  work 
in  the  imperial  system. 

Another  consequence  of  this  main  argument 
should  be  noted.  Christianity,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
put  down  as  a  police  measure,  by  "  administrative 
order"  rather  than  by  formal  laws,2  or  stately  trials. 
From  the  outlook  of  the  later  historian  the  result  was 

1  Mommsen  PRE  ii  199,  n. 

2  For  further  on  this  question  see  App.  E. 

P 


66          PERSECUTION  IN  THE   EARLY   CHURCH 

disastrous.  Police-court  cases  are  not  enrolled  among 
the  archives  of  the  nation.  A  great  trial,  a  Verres  or 
a  Warren  Hastings,  brings  forth  the  orations,  immortal 
not  merely  in  themselves,  but  because  of  the  light 
they  throw  upon  current  law  or  history.  But  no 
orator  defended  St.  Paul  or  St.  Perpetua ;  few  records 
are  preserved  of  the  trials  of  insignificant  Anarchists. 
The  very  laws  under  which  they  were  prosecuted  do 
not  demean  themselves  to  illustrations  of  their  bear- 
ing and  application  at  the  hands  of  great  jurists  by 
instances  gathered  from  the  scum  of  society.  Ulpian, 
Paulus,  Modestinus — the  Cokes  and  Lytteltons  of  the 
third  century — leave  the  crime  of  Christianity  as 
such  alone ; 1  they  saw  no  reason  for  singling  it  out 
from  other  moral  enormities  with  which  the  police 
had  ample  powers  of  dealing.  If  only  St.  Paul  or 
Ignatius  had  been  a  Verres  or  a  Clodius — gigantic 
peculators,  administrators  whose  tyranny  set  a  pro- 
vince on  fire,  daring  revolutionaries — all  would  have 
been  clear,  set  forth  with  precision  in  the  text-books 
of  the  schools.  As  it  is,  the  historian  is  reduced  to 
the  scanty  flotsam  and  jetsam  thrown  up  from  the 
sea  of  oblivion ;  a  detail  here,  a  fragment  there  from 
which  we  must  reconstruct  as  best  we  may  the  great 
conflict  between  the  Church  and  the  Empire. 


Ill 

There  was  a  second  way  in  which  the  State  might 
have  tried  to  suppress  the  Christians  other  than  by 

1  For  Ulpian's  exception  see  infra  p.  240  n. 


CAESAR  OR  CHRIST  67 

the  method  of  treating  them  as  outlaws  and  anarchists. 
The  Empire,  as  distinct  from  the  later  Republic,1  was 
always  jealous  of  all  unregistered  clubs  and  societies. 
We  must  own  that  the  dread  was  not  unwarranted, 
when  we  remember  on  the  one  hand  the  constant 
disaffection  of  the  displaced  oligarchy,  and  on  the 
other  the  vast  slave  populations,  the  complex  racial 
elements,,  and  the  smallness  of  the  standing  army  by 
means  of  which  peace  was  preserved;  In  the  days 
of  the  Republic  the  only  societies  under  the  ban  were 
those  which  met  secretly  or  by  night.  But  Julius 
Caesar,  on  political  grounds,  suppressed  all  sodalities 
except  those  of  ancient  origin,  while  Augustus  placed 
all  religious  societies  under  the  strictest  control.2 
Henceforth  all  new  societies  had  to  obtain  permission 
either  from  the  emperor  or  from  the  senate,  accord- 
ing as  they  belonged  to  imperial  or  to  senatorial  pro- 
vinces.3 Unregistered  clubs  could  be  suppressed  by 
the  police  at  any  time ;  though  here  again  the  power 
of  suppression  must  not  be  confused  with  the  deed 
itself.  Probably  clubs  of  all  sorts  would  be  allowed 
to  meet,  more  or  less  openly  recognized  though  with- 
out formal  licence,  the  more  so  because  the  police  knew 
that  they  could  at  any  time  put  an  end  to  their 
existence.  By  the  Lex  Julia  (B.C.  48)  members  of 
unregistered  clubs  could  be  summarily  punished  by 

1  We  see  the  dread  of  clubs  in  the  early  days  of  the  Republic  in 
the  decree  of  the  Senate  (B.C.  184),  that  those  who  wished  to  celebrate 
Bacchic  rites  could  do  so  on  obtaining  a  licence,  provided  that  not 
more  than  two  men  and  three  women  met  together  (Hardy  o.c.  11). 

2  Suet.  Caes.  42,  Oct.  32,  Dio.  Cass.  lii  36. 

3  Marcian  in  Dig.  xlvii  22,  3.     See  also  Hardy  o.c.  170. 


68  PERSECUTION  IN  THE   EARLY  CHURCH 

the  police,  if  necessary  with  the  extreme  penalties  of 
treason.1  But  at  the  same  time  care  was  taken  that 
such  prohibition  should  not  be  a  pecuniary  benefit  to 
the  State.  The  common  funds  of  a  dissolved  sodality 
were  to  be  divided,  not  confiscated,2  a  restriction 
which  would  not  apply  in  the  case  of  treason. 

Of  the  jealousy  of  the  Empire  of  the  power  of 
clubs  and  guilds  we  have  several  illustrations.  In 
Nicoinedeia,  the  future  residence  of  Diocletian,  one 
of  the  greatest  cities  of  Asia  Minor,  a  disastrous  fire 
destroyed  many  dwellings,  a  club  for  old  men,8  and  a 
temple  of  Isis.  The  authorities  applied  for  permission 
to  form  a  fire  brigade  of  150  men.  Pliny,  the  then 
governor  of  Bithynia-Pontus,  who  forwarded  their 
request,  promised  that  he  would  take  care  '  that  no 
workman  should  be  received  into  the  brigade,  and 
that  it  would  not  be  used  for  other  purposes.'  But 
Trajan  dreaded  clubs  more  than  fires,  and  so  refused. 
Nor  would  he  allow  the  citizens  of  Amisus  to  con- 
tinue their  subscription  suppers.4  Trades  unions  too 

1  The  penalty  for  belonging  to  a  collegium  illicitum  was  the  same 
as  that  of  an  armed  riot  (Ulpian  Dig.  xlvii  22,  2),  and  armed  riot  was 
a  form  of  majestatis  laesae  (Ulpiau  Dig.  xlviii  4,  1 ;  Neumann  RSK 
124,  n.),  the  punishment  of  which  was  death  (Paulus  Sent,  v  29.    See 
supra  p.  64). 

2  Dig.  xlvii  22,  3.     The  student  will  compare  with  interest  the 
struggles  of  trade  unions  in  England  in  the  nineteenth  century.    Ac- 
cording to  Hardy  o.c.  178,  the  chief  necessary  disadvantage  of  an  illicit 
sodality  was  its  non-recognition  by  law  as  a  juristic  person. 

*  Gerusion ;  see  for  this  word  infra  p.  70  n.  1. 

4  Pliny  Eps.  33,  84,  92,  93.  For  the  bearing  of  this  on  the 
Christians  of  Bithynia,see  infra  p.  211.  Bithynia  was  in  a  disturbed 
condition,  and  Trajan  probably  more  strict  than  some  emperors. 


CAESAR  OR  CHRIST  69 

were  considered  illegal ; l  not  until  the  time  of  Sep- 
timius  Severus  did  they  obtain  any  legal  status,2 
though  here  again  the  student  should  beware  of  con- 
fusing legal  recognition  with  absence  of  existence. 
Their  recognition  was  the  result  of  accomplished  facts 
which  it  were  idle  for  wise  statesmen  any  longer  to 
deny. 

For  these  rigid  restrictions  overshot  themselves 
and  proved  impossible.  Laws  and  ordinances  were 
paralysed  by  greater  though  impalpable  forces;  the 
universal  craving  for  mutual  sympathy  and  succour ; 
the  immense  development  of  a  free  proletariat  with 
collective  interests  of  its  own ;  above  all  the  intense 
desire  of  the  people  to  obtain  relief  from  the  deadly 
dullness  of  their  lives.  For  "the  Empire  which 
had  striven  to  prevent  combination,  really  fur- 
nished the  greatest  incentive  to  combine.  In  the 
face  of  that  world-wide  and  all-powerful  system,  the 
individual  subject  felt,  ever  more  and  more,  his  lone- 
liness and  helplessness." 3  So,  slowly  but  surely,  the 
people  asserted  for  themselves  the  right  to  organize 

1  Ramsay  ChE  200  (strike  of  bakers  at  Magnesia).  Cf.  Tac.  Ann. 
xiv  17.  Nevertheless,  such  trades  unions  were  winked  at,  so  long  as 
they  did  not  become  political  (Hardy  o.c.  181). 

»  Lamprid.  Alex.  Sev.  33 ;  Dig.  xlvii  22,  1.  But  there  are  grounds 
for  believing  that  in  senatorial  provinces  legal  sanction  was  given 
before  133.  See  Hardy  o.c.  182. 

3  Dill  BSNA  256.  For  a  good  account  of  these  clubs  see  bk.  ii  c.  3 
of  this  able  work.  The  student  should  consult  Boissicr  Eel.  Rom.  ii 
292  ff. ;  Renan  Les  Apotres  c.  18.  Hardy  o.c.  o.  9  is  rather  too  legal 
for  the  general  reader.  The  fullest  work  is  Liebenam's  Geschichte 
de%  rim.  Vereinswesem  (Leipzig,  1890).  There  is  a  vast  literature 
on  their  relation  to  the  Church.  See  infra  p,  261  n. 


70          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

societies,  though  under  restrictions  jealously  guarded, 
in  theory  at  least,  down  to  the  time  of  Justinian. 

Thus  the  age  of  the  infant  Church  became  an  age 
of  clubs  and  guilds,  of  efforts  in  various  ways  to 
attain  the  new  ideas  of  unity  and  brotherhood.  There 
were  clubs  and  sodalities  of  all  sorts — colleges  of  old 
men1  and  of  young  men,  of  wandering  traders  and 
military  veterans,  and  of  artisans  in  almost  every 
conceivable  branch  of  industry  or  specialized  skill,  from 
the  mule-drivers  of  the  Alps  to  the  men  whose  business 
it  was  to  strew  the  fine  sand  in  the  arena.  The 
Great  Mother,  Isis,  Serapis,  and  other  gods,  all  alike 
had  their  colleges ;  religion,  in  fact,  played  no  small 
part  in  this  vast  club  life.2  We  have  also  one  sodality 
at  least  that  was  virtually  a  White  Cross  Guild, 
though  this  must  be  balanced  by  the  sodalities  of  the 
'  late  sleepers  *  and  '  late  drinkers '  at  Pompeji.8  As 
Mommsen  showed  in  one  of  his  earliest  works,  it  was 
not  difficult  for  any  society  desirous  of  making  con- 
tributions for  any  purpose,  to  enroll  itself  under  forms 
allowed  by  law,  though  freedom  was  somewhat 
narrowed  by  the  fact  that  meetings  were  only  allowed 
once  a  month,  and  that  no  permanent  head,  or 
'  master  of  sacred  rites,'  could  be  appointed.  Owing 
to  these  last  restrictions,  perhaps,  or  from  unwilling- 
ness to  lower  their  religion  to  the  level  of  a  sodality  or 
mutual  benefit  club,  or  because  they  were  aware  that 

1  On  the  gerusia  see  Mommsen  PRE  i  354,  n.,  and  for  a  very 
different  interpretation  Ramsay  GBP  i  110-4,  438-9. 

9  See  illustrations  in  Hardy  o.c.  170.  Compare  the  guild  life  of  the 
days  of  Wyclif.  (See  my  Age  of  Wydif,  pp.  269-70.) 

*  Dill  ESN  A  265. 


OAESAB  OB  CHRIST  71 

there  were  many  religious  clubs  which  had  received  no 
licence  and  yet  existed,1  the  early  Christians  either 
refused  or  neglected  the  opportunity  and  freedom  of 
such  registration,  while  their  ayairai,  or  love-feasts — 
which  would  appear  to  have  existed  longer  than  is 
sometimes  supposed2 — would  make  them  an  illegal 
sodality  the  crushing  of  which  would  need  no  farther 
formalities.3  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  State  preferred, 
as  a  rule,  to  proceed  against  the  Christians,  not  as 
members  of  an  illegal  guild,  but  as  political  agitators 
or  anarchists  of  the  most  dangerous  form.  We  have 
proof  of  this  in  the  fact  that  at  the  commencement 
of  the  third  century,  v;hen  the  Christians  here  and 
there  took  steps,  appai  ntly,  to  enroll  themselves  as 
burial  clubs,4  the  persecutions  did  not  thereby  cease. 
The  Christians  were  punished,  not  as  members  of  an 
illicit  sodality,  but  '  for  the  Name.'  5 

The  student  should  beware,  however,  lest  he  over- 
look the  momentous  issues  involved  in  the  refusal  of 
the  State  to  allow  any  society  or  club  to  exist  which 
had  not  first  obtained  official  recognition,  and  the 
equally  momentous  refusal  of  the  Church  to  obtain 

1  Hardy  o.c.  177.    See  also  Dig.  xlii  22,  1  '  sed  religionis  causa 
coire  non  probibentur,  dum  tamen  per  hoc  non  fiat  contra  senatus 
consultuin  quo  illicita  collegia  arcentur.' 

2  See  Harnack  EC  i  199. 

3  In  Bithynia  they  gave  up  the  agape  in  consequence.    See  Ep. 
Pliny,  infra  p.  211.  4  See  infra  p.  261  n. 

5  The  chief  proof  of  this  lies  in  the  fact  that  when  Tertullian  wrote 
his  Apology  a  general  liberty  had  been  given  for  clubs  by  Severus  (see 
supra  p.  69  n.  2).  But  possibly  the  difference  between  the  two 
procedures  was  not  so  great,  for  illicitum  at  this  time  had  come  to  be 
identical  with  "  political "  (Hardy  o.c,  179),  the  very  ground  on  which 
Christians  were  persecuted, 


72          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

such  recognition.  The  question  is  not  one  of  legal 
technicalities  or  procedure,  or  the  '  sheer  obstinacy,' 
as  Marcus  Aurelius  would  have  phrased  it,  of  Chris- 
tian fanatics,  but  points  rather  to  one  of  those  root 
antagonisms  of  principle  the  influence  of  which,  in 
different  forms,  may  be  felt  in  the  twentieth  as  much 
as  in  the  second  century.  By  Koman  theory  the 
State  was  the  one  society  which  must  engross  every 
interest  of  its  subjects,  religious,  social,  political, 
humanitarian,  with  the  one  possible  exception  of  the 
family.  There  was  no  room  in  Koman  law  for  the 
existence,  much  less  the  development  on  its  own 
lines  of  organic  growth,  of  any  corporation  or  society 
which  did  not  recognize  itself  from  the  first  as  a  mere 
department  or  auxiliary  of  the  State.  The  State  was 
all  and  in  all,  the  one  organism  with  a  life  of  its  own. 
Such  a  theory  the  Church,  as  the  living  kingdom  of 
Jesus,  could  not  possibly  accept  either  in  the  first 
century  or  the  twentieth.1  Here,  in  fact,  we  strike  a 
root  antagonism  of  political  ideals  between  the 
Church  and  the  Empire,  the  details  and  consequences 
of  which  will  need  further  examination.  Suffice  to 
say  that  this  was  not  the  least  of  the  factors  which 
led  from  the  first  to  an  outbreak  of  persecution. 

1  Thus  the  famous  United  Free  Church  decision  was  a  reversion 
to  a  theory  as  a  protest  against  which  the  martyrs  died.  That  it  was 
an  unhistorical  reversion  (i.e.  not  true  to  the  line  of  development)  is 
shown  by  Gierke's  Pol.  TJieories  of  Med.  Age  ed.  Maitland  (1900). 


CAESAR  OR  CHRIST  73 


IV 

To  the  modern  reader  the  crime  of  anarchism 
thus  alleged  against  Christianity  seems  so  pre- 
posterous, that  he  finds  it  hard  to  believe  that  such  a 
charge  could  ever  have  been  seriously  entertained. 
Nothing,  in  fact,  is  more  difficult  in  the  study  of 
history  than  to  put  oneself  back  into  the  thoughts 
and  feelings  of  past  centuries,  and  to  view  events 
from  a  standpoint  the  very  foundations  of  which 
have  utterly  perished.  The  student  who  succeeds  in 
doing  this  in  his  investigation  of  the  relations  in 
early  days  of  the  Church  and  the  Empire  will  discover 
that  the  notion  was  not  so  utterly  absurd  after  all  as 
at  first  sight  it  appears.  To  both  people  and  bureau- 
crat the  Christians  would  seem,  if  not  exactly  Anar- 
chists, yet  something  scarce  distinguishable.  History, 
the  judge  from  whose  verdicts  there  is  no  appeal,  has 
shown  that  the  statesmen  and  magistrates  of  the 
Empire  were  wrong,  as  history  has  exposed  similar 
follies  in  every  century.  Nevertheless,  the  astute 
rulers  of  the  Empire  did  not  adopt  their  views  with- 
out reasons  which  on  the  surface  appeared  sufficient. 
What  these  were  we  shall  explain  in  a  later  chapter. 

The  difficulty  of  the  reader  in  understanding  this 
charge  is  increased  when  he  remembers  the  known 
tolerance  of  the  Koman  Empire  for  all  sorts  of 
religions.1  For  the  city  had  slowly  adopted  as  her 
own,  by  senatorial  decree  or  popular  verdict,  a  vast 

1  On  this  and  other  matters  connected  with   Roman    religion 
Boissiur  Religion  Romaine  (Paris  1900)  is  of  great  value. 


74          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

pantheon  of  other  gods;  not  merely  Italian  deities, 
Juno  and  Diana,  or  the  gods  of  Greece,  Apollo, 
Athene,  but  Oriental  deities,  such  as  the  Great 
Mother,  and  the  worship  of  Mithra.  The  belief  in 
the  old  Boinan  deities  that  had  contented  the  rude 
farmers  of  Latium  had  slowly  melted  away  under 
the  solvent  of  Greek  philosophy  and  world-wide  con- 
quest ;  their  places  had  been  taken  by  alien  mytho- 
logies of  larger  human  interest  and  more  alluring 
legend.  Not  only  had  strangers  introduced  into  the 
great  city  the  various  superstitions  of  their  native 
countries,  but  Kome  herself  had  bestowed  "  the  free- 
dom of  the  city  on  all  the  gods  of  mankind." l 
Orontes  had  flowed  into  the  Tiber ;  but  the  Tiber 
had  seemed  no  less  anxious  to  receive  her.  In  the 
case  of  some  of  these  adopted  or  imported  gods  the 
rites  were  not  always  remarkable  for  their  moral 
power.  And  yet  the  worship  of  Isis,  though  never 
formally  adopted  by  the  State,  was  allowed,  in  spite 
of  attendant  orgies ;  that  of  Jesus  was  forbidden.  The 
licentious  rites  of  Adonis  were  the  glory  aud  disgrace 
of  Antioch;  the  brotherhood  in  Christ  Jesus  was 
under  the  ban  of  the  Empire.  The  cult  of  Aesculapius 
(a  foreign  deity  introduced  from  Epidaurus,  on  the 
advice  of  the  Sibylline  books,  as  far  back  as  B.C.  290) 
— '  God  the  Saviour/  '  the  friend  of  man '  (QiXavOpw- 
Troraroc) — was  especially  popular,  as  his  numerous 
inscriptions  and  statues  testify.  The  worship  of  '  the 

1  See  Gibbon  i  28-32,  to  whose  "philosophy"  this  especially 
appealed.  Cf.  Avnobius  Adv.  Gent,  vi  7, '  Ci vitas  omnium  minimum 
cultiix.' 


CAESAR  OB  CHRIST  75 

great  Physician '  '  who  went  about  doing  good '  was 
suppressed.1  How  came  these  things  to  be,  the  reader 
asks?  By  what  perversion  of  logic  or  fact  did  it 
conie  to  pass  that  an  Empire  so  tolerant  in  its  general 
practice  could  be  so  hostile  to  the  Church  ?  Is  it 
that  the  toleration  of  the  Empire  was  less  complete 
than  is  supposed,  or  has  the  measure  of  the  persecu- 
tions of  the  Christians  been  exaggerated  by  ecclesi- 
astical zealots  ? 

The  answer  to  these  questions  cannot  be  given  in 
a  simple  yes  or  no.  We  must  distinguish  between 
things  that  differ ;  for  instance,  the  liberty  of  thought 
and  the  liberty  of  worship.  Liberty  of  thought,  so 
far  as  the  Government  was  concerned,  was  complete, 
far  more  so  than  in  the  later  days  of  Giordano  Bruno, 
Servetus,  or  Galileo.  The  theologicum  odium  did  not 
exist,  at  any  rate  in  Kome,  if  only  because  men 
were  not  sufficiently  interested  in  their  gods  to  make 
them  a  battle-ground.  But  liberty  of  worship  was  a 
different  matter,  depending  chiefly  on  political  and 
local  considerations.  The  rites  allowed,  or  even 
favoured,  in  Phrygia  or  Gaul  could  not  be  equally 
tolerated  elsewhere.  In  this  matter  the  Komans,  like 
most  great  imperial  administrators,  were  opportunists. 
In  Jerusalem  they  protected  the  worship  of  Jehovah ; 
the  Koman  who  passed  within  the  portals  of  the 
temple  was  put  to  death.  In  Ephesus  they  were 
equally  ready  in  the  interests  of  Artemis  to  crucify 
the  Jew.  Political  expediency  rather  than  abstract 
theory  lay  at  the  root  of  their  system  of  toleration, 

1  See  infra  p.  80,  n. 


76    PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

or  rather  protection,  of  local  deities.  For  the  same 
administrative  reasons  Eome,  the  centre  of  the  world, 
the  great  meeting-place  of  all  nations  and  ages,  the 
fountain  of  honour,  welcomed  within  her  borders, 
under  certain  restrictions,  the  deities  of  all  her  subject 
nations.  Whatever  he  might  think  in  his  heart,  in 
his  public  utterance  the  Kornan  was  not  guilty  of  the 
scornful  folly  of  a  Sennacherib.  The  wrath  of  a 
Cambyses  pouring  itself  out  in  the  destruction  of  the 
embalmed  bulls  and  shrines  of  Egypt  did  not  seem 
to  him  the  best  model  for  attaching  Egypt  to  the 
imperial  city ; l  nor  would  the  nations  love  Eome  the 
more  if  the  stranger  visiting  the  capital  should  find 
himself  cut  off  from  the  rites  with  which  he  was 
familiar.  But  it  was  all  a  matter  of  political  ex- 
pediency and  administrative  fitness ;  toleration  as  a 
philosophical  theory  never  entered  Koman  thoughts. 

For  this  very  reason  we  must  not  forget  that  the 
toleration  of  Eome  was  always  less  complete  than  is 
sometimes  claimed.  Especially  was  this  the  case  in 
the  early  Eepublic.  From  Livy's  account  of  the 
Bacchanalian  scandal  in  B.C.  186,  we  see  the  sternness 
with  which  the  executive  put  down  all  religious 
associations  that  tended  to  become  a  danger  to  the 
State  or  to  morals,2  while  even  in  later  and  looser 
days  no  new  worship  was  allowed  to  be  introduced 
'  except  by  decree  of  the  Emperor  ratified  by  the 
Senate/ 8  But  this  last  was  the  very  thing  that  for 

1  Assuming,  for  the  argument,  the  truth  of  the  tales  of  Herodotus. 

2  Livy  xxxix.  8  flf.    On  Roman  toleration  the  reader  should  consult 
Hardy  CBG  c.,1. 

3  Tert.  Apol.  5,  13.    Cf.  also  the  "  Law  of  the  XII.  Tables  "  in  Cio. 


CAESAR  OB  CHRIST  77 

Christianity,  as  for  Judaism  before  it,  was  an  impossi- 
bility. Christ  could  not  be  one  among  many;  His 
claims  rested  upon  higher  grounds  than  senatorial 
allowance.  Furthermore,  even  when  a  religion  was 
tolerated,  Koman  citizens,  in  theory  at  any  rate, 
might  not  participate  in  it,  whatever  was  allowed  to 
the  alien.  For  the  Eoman  citizen  whatever  went 
beyond  the  prescription  of  ancestral  worship  fell 
under  the  definition  of  '  superstition.' l  We  have  an 
illustration  of  this  in  the  case  of  the  worship  of  the 
Great  Mother.  Though  formally  adopted  by  the 
Senate  in  B.C.  204,  not  for  a  century  were  Koman 
citizens  permitted  to  join  its  priesthood.2  In  Egypt 
Augustus  revered  the  majesty  of  Isis ;  nevertheless 
Augustus  prohibited  the  worship  within  a  mile  of 
the  sacred  pomerium.3 

Thus  when  political  considerations  demanded  the 
Komans  crushed  out  remorselessly  religion  or  rites 
which  seemed  to  them  to  stand  in  their  way.  We 
have  an  illustration  of  this  in  the  case  of  Druidism. 
The  political  power  of  this  religion,  the  resistance  to 
Eoman  rule  that  found  a  head  in  the  priests,  was 
felt  to  be  too  great.  Hence,  though  Augustus  had 
tolerated  the  faith,  steps  were  taken  by  Tiberius 

de  Leg.  ii  9.  '  Separatim  nemo  habessit  decs  neve  novos  neve  advenas 
nisi  publice  adscitos ;  privatim  colunto,  quos  rite  a  patribus  (culto» 
acceperint).'  See  Huschke  Jurisprudentiae  Antejustinianae  for  a 
convenient  text  of  these  XII  Tables. 

1  See  Cic.  de  Nat.  Deorum  i  42,  §  117;  ii  28,  §  70;  and  cf.  Tao. 
Ann.  ii85,  5;  xv  44,  4. 

8  Dill  RSNA  548 ;  Hardy  o.c.  9-10. 

»  Gibbon  i  32,  n.     See  infra  p.  81. 


78          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY   CHURCH 

and  Claudius  tor  suppressing  the  great  annual 
meeting  of  the  Druids  at  the  centre  of  their  cult, 
the  hill  of  Chartres.  As  part  of  the  same  plan, 
it  was  determined  to  occupy  the  Druid  strongholds  in 
Britain.  An  excuse  was  found,  if  any  were  needed, 
in  the  traffic  in  charms  carried  on  by  the  priests,  the 
annual  human  sacrifices  in  great  wickerwork  pens, 
and  the  healing  of  the  sick  by  the  flesh  of  the  slain. 
The  result  was  seen  in  the  rapid  Komanization  of 
Celtic  Gaul.1 

Nor  must  we  forget  that  the  toleration  of  Eome, 
such  as  it  was,  was  nearer  akin  to  contempt  and 
indifference.  Now,  the  toleration  which  springs  from 
contempt  is  often  intensely  intolerant  of  one  thing, 
namely,  of  enthusiasm,  using  the  word  in  a  sense 
better  understood  and  disliked  in  the  eighteenth 
century  than  to-day.  'What  a  fool  you  are,'  said 
Maximus  the  judge  to  the  veteran  Julius,  '  to  make 
more  of  a  crucified  man  than  of  living  emperors '  ; 
nor  would  his  contempt  be  lessened  by  the  answer  of 
Julius :  '  He  died  for  our  sins  that  He  might  give  us 
eternal  life.' 2  '  Sacrifice  and  live,  then,'  retorted 
Maximus.  *  If  I  choose  life,'  replied  the  veteran, 

1  Mommsen  PEE  i  104-6,  173 ;  Suet.  Claud.  25. 

2  Ruinart  AM  550.    A  better  text  of  this  interesting  trial  will  be 
found  in  Anal.  Boll,  x  (1891)  50  ff.,  or  Harnack  MC 119-21.     The  date 
is  unknown,  probably  the  persecution  of  Diocletian ;  but  the  docu- 
ment is  certainly  pre-Constantine.     Possibly  this  is  the  Julius  who 
suffered  at  Dorostorum  in  Moesia  on  May  27th,  year  unknown,  whose 
record  is  in  the  old  martyrologies  of  Ado  and  Notker.     But  see 
Harnack  CAL  ii  477  n.     The  date  in  DCS  Hi  533  (14)  as  under 
Alex.  Severus  seems  to  me  most  improbable.    (Cf.  opening  words 
'tempore  persecutions '  with  infra  pp.  238-9.) 


CAESAR  OR  CHRIST  79 

'  I  choose  death ;  if  I  die,  I  live  for  ever.'  At  this 
Maximus,  who  hitherto  had  been  most  anxious  to 
save  so  old  a  soldier,  lost  his  temper.  He  would  feel 
that  in  sentencing  the  man  to  death  he  was  ridding 
the  earth  of  a  madman.  We  see  this  contempt  of 
enthusiasm  breaking  out  time  after  time;  in  the 
sneers  of  Pilate  and  Agrippa,1  in  the  satires  of 
Lucian,  and  in  the  acts  and  sayings  of  magistrates 
and  governors  for  nearly  three  centuries. 

The  idea  of  toleration  may  therefore  be  dismissed. 
The  whole  conception  was  yet  unborn ;  many  centuries 
would  elapse  before  it  should  arise.  Nor  was  tolera- 
tion, when  it  came,  due  to  the  influence  or  example 
of  the  Church.  The  so-called  toleration  of  Eome  was 
founded  in  reality  upon  political  expediency.  But 
a  toleration  founded  on  political  expediency  must 
always  at  some  point  or  other,  if  only  it  is  logical, 
become  intolerant.  From  the  utilitarian  standpoint 
the  policy  of  a  Pobiedonostseff  has  much  to  plead  on 
its  own  behalf.  Expediency  demands,  for  the  sake  of 
unity,  that  the  Stundists  or  Old  Believers  be  crushed 
out,  though  at  the  same  time  the  heathenism  of  the 
tribes  that  dwell  on  the  barren  tundras  of  Siberia 
may  receive  recognition,  at  any  rate  for  the  nonce. 
So  in  Rome.  A  wise  recognition  of  local  usages  was 
one  thing,  provided  always  that  the  interests  of  the 
State  were  duly  conserved  ;  a  toleration  founded  upon 
the  claims  of  conscience  and  the  rights  of  the  in- 
dividual soul  was  a  matter  too  absurd  even  for 
philosophers  to  discuss. 

1  John  xviii  38 ;  Acts  xxvi  28. 


80          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EABLY  CHURCH 

The  reader  will  not  fail  to  notice  one  result. 
Toleration  was  a  local  matter,  if  only  for  the 
simple  reason  that  polytheism  was  essentially  a 
local  matter.  Each  god  had  his  rights,  within 
certain  areas ;  but  each  god  must  be  careful  to 
respect  the  rights  of  his  neighbour.  To  ignore  this 
rule  would  lead  to  chaos,  or  rather  the  end  of 
the  whole  system.  A  universal  faith,  provided  it 
makes  any  real  demands  on  its  devotees,  must 
come  into  conflict  with  polytheism.  The  claims  of 
the  local  and  of  the  universal  cannot  be  conciliated. 
We  see  this  in  later  days  in  the  case  of  Muhammad. 
The  same  thing  was  illustrated  even  more  abundantly 
in  the  rise  of  the  Church.  The  Christians  were  not 
persecuted  because  of  their  creed,  but  because  of  their 
universal  claims.  For  monotheism,  viewed  merely  as  a 
philosophy,  the  Eomans  had  some  sympathy.  But  a 
monotheism  which  refused  to  allow  place  for  others 
must  be  brushed  aside  as  a  political  nuisance  or 
*  atheistic  '  monster.  This  universality  of  claim,  this 
aggressiveness  of  temper,1  this  consciousness  from  the 

1  A  good  illustration  of  this  is  the  rivalry  between  the  worship  of 
Aesculapius  and  Jesus.  Both  had  the  title  Swr^p  ('Saviour,'  or 
'Healer'),  both  proclaimed  a  "gospel  of  the  Saviour,"  i.e.  healer. 
Hence  the  special  hatred  of  Christian  writers  for  Aesculapius.  See 
Harnack  EC  i  o.  2,  espec.  i  146,  n.  See  also  the  story  of  the  five 
sculptors,  infra  p.  136 ;  and  add,  possibly,  Apoc.  ii  13  (on  which  see 
infra  p.  97).  A  statue  of '  Aesculapius  the  Saviour '  at  Paneas  (Caesarea 
Philippi),  with  the  usual  curative  plant  upon  it  as  a  symbol,  was 
mistaken  by  Eueebius  (HEvii  18)  for  a  statue  of  Jesus  erected  by  the 
woman  with  the  issue  of  blood.  For  Aesculapius  see  also  Pater 
Marius  the  Epicurean  c.  3,  Dill  RSNA  459-60.  See  also  Ramsay  CBP 
i  52,  104,  138,  262-4,  348  for  his  influence  in  Phrygia.  Students 
will  remember  the  last  words  of  Socrates. 


CAESAR  OB  CHRIST  81 

first  of  world-wide  dominion — in  a  word,  all  that  in 
later  days  was  summed  up  in  the  title  of  Catholic — 
was  the  inevitable  cause  of  Koman  persecution. 
Neither  the  Church  nor  the  Empire  could  act  other- 
wise save  by  running  contrary  to  their  true  genius. 
The  failure  to  understand  this  essential  opposition 
lies  at  the  root  of  the  constant  complaints  of  Christian 
apologists  as  to  the  different  treatment  measured  out 
to  them  and  '  to  the  men  who  worship  trees  and  rivers 
and  mice  and  cats  and  crocodiles.' l 


We  have  referred  already  to  the  toleration  by  the 
State  of  the  worship  of  Isis  and  Mithra.2  On  deeper 
examination  the  contradiction  between  this  toleration 
and  the  persecution  of  Christianity  disappears ;  their 
history,  in  fact,  is  seen  to  run  on  somewhat  parallel 
lines,  and  to  afford  illustration  rather  than  contra- 
diction. The  worship  of  Isis  8  won  its  way  to  recog- 
nition in  the  face  of  fierce  opposition;  its  story  is 

1  Justin  I  Apol  i  24 ;  Athenag.  Suppl.  1, 14. 

2  For  Mithraism  the  standard  work  is  Cumont,  Textes  et  Monu- 
ments figures  relatifs  aux  mynteres  de  Mithra  (Brussels,  1899).     The 
reader  may  content  himself  with  The  Mysteries  of  Mithra  (Chicago, 
1903,  a  translation  by  T.  J.  McCormack  of  Cumont's  Introduction). 
For  a  summary  of  Cumont  see  also  Dill  RSNA  586-626,  or  my  article 
in  the  London  Quarterly  Review,  Oct.  1905. 

3  See  Gibbon  i  32,  n.,  corrected  by  Bury;  Hardy  o.c.  14-15;  West- 
cott  Ch  W  245-6,  who  all  give  the  loci  classici.     On  Isis  the  student 
may  read  with  advantage  Dill  RSNA  560-85 ;  or  the  exhaustive  work 
of  Lafaye  Hist,  du  Culte  des  Divinitfg  dy  Alexandria  hors  de  VEgypte, 
Paris,  1884. 


82     PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

the  story  of  a  popular  religious  movement  of  Eastern 
origin  in  perpetual  conflict  with  Roman  conservatism. 
Time  after  time  the  temples  of  Isis  were  destroyed, 
only  to  be  re-erected  on  a  larger  scale  by  popular 
enthusiasm  and  the  growing  cosmopolitanism.  Slaves 
and  freedmen,  especially  those  from  Egypt,  were  the 
apostles  of  the  new  faith  long  before  it  became 
fashionable  in  higher  circles.  Not  until  the  latter 
years  of  the  first  century  of  our  era  did  Isis  succeed 
in  obtaining  the  sanction  and  worship  of  the  bureau- 
cracy itself. 

Even  more  valuable  as  an  illustration  both  in  its 
arguments  and  differences  is  the  case  of  Mithraism, 
the  greatest  rival  which  Christianity  ever  had  to  face.1 
In  some  respects  Christianity  and  Mithraism  were 
curiously  alike.  Both  religions  were  of  Eastern  origin. 
Both  religions  had  entered  Europe  much  about  the 
same  time,  with  the  advantage  of  a  few  years  in  favour 
of  Mithraism.  Both  religions  possessed  a  strongly 
developed  ecclesiastical  organization,  and  emphasized 
the  value  of  mysteries  or  sacraments,  these  last  in 
some  of  their  details  strangely  similar.  Both  religions 
were  treated  with  scorn  and  indifference  by  the 
historians,  poets,  and  philosophers  of  the  Empire. 

The  worship  of  Mithra  was  one  of  the  oldest  cults 
of  the  Aryan  race,  in  its  origin  identical  with  the 
worship  of  the  sun.  Adopted  by  the  Persians,  Mithra 

1  It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  Christianity  owes  to  Mithraism  the 
names  of  the  days,  Sunday  included,  and  also  probably  the  date  of 
Christmas  Day,  originally  the  « Natalis  Invicti '  i.e.  of  Mithra  (Cumont 
i  299,  342,  with  which  cf.  Dio.  Cass.  xxxvii  18).  «  Sunday '  is  first  used 
by  Justin  I  Apol.  67.  For  its  Mithraic  origin  see  Orig.  Gel*,  vi  22. 


CAESAR   OR  CHRIST  *  83 

found  a,  place  in  the  Zoroastrian  system,  occupying  a 
middle  place  between  Ormuzd,  who  dwelt  in  eternal 
light,  and  Ahriman,  whose  sphere  was  darkness.  In 
time  Mithra  became  regarded  as  the  viceroy  on  earth 
of  the  supreme  deity,  whose  serene  bliss  no  mortal 
cares  could  disturb.  As  his  viceroy,  Mithra  was  '  the 
Saviour,'  the  head  of  the  celestial  armies  in  their 
ceaseless  combat  with  the  Spirit  of  Darkness.  His 
'  invincible  '  might — the  adjective  is  almost  an  in- 
separable— causes  Ahriman  himself  in  the  depth  of 
hell  to  tremble  with  fear.  It  is  as  the  *  Saviour,'  the 
conqueror  of  Ahriman,  that  we  see  Mithra  represented 
in  a  thousand  inscriptions  from  Scotland  to  Egypt, 
with  his  sword  buried  in  the  neck  of  a  bull. 

In  Europe  the  growth  of  Mithraism,  almost  con- 
temporary with  that  of  Christianity,  seems  to  have 
run  pretty  much  the  same  course,  reaching  its  climax 
in  the  third  century.  We  find  its  first  home  in  the 
seaports  ;  its  earliest  devotees  were  aliens  and  Syrian 
slaves.  Thus  in  Ostia,  the  port  of  Home,  there  were 
at  least  four  shrines  of  Mithra.  In  Eome,  the  caravan- 
sary of  the  Empire,  Mithraism  reared  a  temple  in  the 
sacred  Capitol  itself.  But  a  more  interesting  evidence 
of  its  strength  lies  in  the  fact  revealed  by  de  Eossi, 
that  the  oldest  Church  of  St.  Clement,  the  crypt  of 
the  present  building  (originally  in  all  probability  an 
early  Christian  chapel  of  the  aristocratic  family 
which  in  the  year  95  gave  Domitilla  and  her  husband, 
the  consul,  to  the  Church1),  seems  at  a  later  date  to 
have  lapsed  into  a  Mithraic  shrine.  The  well-known 

1  See  infra  pp,  204-6. 


84          PEBSECUTION  IN  THE  EAKLY  CHURCH 

bas-reliefs  of  Mithra  in  his  birth  from  the  rock  may 
still  be  seen  cut  in  its  walls.1 

Mithra  possessed  one  potent  missionary  agency 
which  Christianity  lacked.  The  stronghold  of  the 
former  creed  lay  in  the  army.  Not  without  good  reason 
was  the  name  of  milites  given  to  a  certain  grade  of  its 
initiates.  In  the  second  and  third  centuries  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  regular  legions  of  the  Eoman  army 
were  for  the  most  part  stationary  (stationarii).  They 
were  not  liable  for  service,  save  in  their  own  native 
province.  But  the  centurions  were  always  on  the 
move,  as  were  also  the  foreign  auxiliaries  of  Eastern 
origin,  with  whom  the  cult  of  Mithraism  originated. 
As  they  were  quartered  here  and  there  throughout 
the  world,  centurions  and  auxiliaries  erected  their 
temples  and  devotional  tablets,  and  spread  abroad 
the  gospel  of  their  *  invincible  Saviour.*  From 
the  army  the  worship  was  carried  to  the  Court 
and  the  educated  classes.  Throughout  the  third 
century  Mithra  had  his  chaplains  in  the  palace  of 
Caesar.  Commodus  was  enrolled  among  his  adepts ; 
Diocletian  and  Galerius,  the  great  enemies  of  Christi- 
anity, dedicated  to  Mithra  many  temples ;  while 
Aurelian  and  Julian  the  Apostate  sought  to  make 
Mithraism,  or  a  variation  thereof,  the  official  cult. 
The  Court,  in  fact,  found  in  its  doctrines  that  support 
for  the  autocracy  which  Christianity,  as  we  shall  see, 
refused  to  give.  But  the  worship  was  by  no  means 
confined  to  the  army  and  Court.  Mithra  possessed  a 
second  line  of  missionaries  in  the  slaves  of  Eastern 

1  Cumont  TM  ii  203-4. 


CAESAR  OR  CHRIST  85 

origin,  the  commonest  article  on  the  slave  markets  of 
Europe,  who  carried  its  cult  to  the  obscurest  corners 
of  the  Empire.  An  inscription  at  Nersae,  in  the 
heart  of  the  Apennines,  recounts  how  a  slave,  who 
had  worked  his  way  up  into  the  position  of  treasurer 
of  the  town,  in  the  year  172  restored  the  temple  of 
Mithra,  one  only  of  many  evidences  of  the  activity  of 
these  servile  missionaries. 

With  this  introduction  we  may  now  face  the 
question :  How  was  it  that  of  the  two  religions  the 
one  was  persecuted,  the  other  tolerated  ?  The  answer 
is  most  pertinent  to  our  theme.  Mithraism  escaped 
persecution  by  taking  refuge  from  its  earliest  days 
under  the  shelter  of  a  rcliyio  licita,  the  worship  of  the 
Great  Mother,  with  which  it  had  many  points  of  con- 
tact.1 Christianity,  on  the'other  hand,  was  not  only 
driven  out  from  the  shelter  of  Judaism,  but  the  Jews 
became  its  deadliest  foes.  Mithraism,  moreover,  early 
took  advantage  of  the  privileges  afforded  by  enrolling 
its  congregations  as  members  of  funerary  societies. 
But  the  third  reason  is  the  most  important.  The 
worships  of  Isis  and  Mithra  were  by  no  means  local 
cults  ;  they  too  aspired  to  world-wide  homage.  But 
their  strength  lay  in  their  power  of  absorbing  and 
assimilating  the  best  elements  in  surrounding  pagan- 
ism. They  were  willing  not  only  to  live  and  let  live, 
but  to  take  up  and  make  part  of  themselves  what- 
ever feature  of  local  religion,  Christianity  included,2 

1  This  legalized  association  is  an  inference  from  the  adoption  by 
Mithraism  of  the  taurololium.     See  infra  p.  160. 

2  It  is  difficult  to  say  to  what  extent  Mithraism  bonoved  its 


86          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

seemed  especially  popular  or  serviceable.  'Et  ipse 
pileatus,  Christianus  est' — 'That  man  with  the 
Mithraic  cap  is  a  Christian,'  said  a  priest  of  Mithra 
to  St.  Augustine,1  who  shrank  back  in  horror  from  this 
attempt  to  identify  his  faith  with  this  *  devil's  imita- 
tion.' The  Mithraic  priest  knew  what  he  was  about. 
The  strength  of  Mithra  and  Isis  lay  in  the  current 
syncretism,  that  tendency  to  find  unity  and  identity 
amid  the  multitudinous  details  of  polytheism,  the 
most  familiar  example  of  which  is  the  identification 
of  the  gods  of  Greece  and  Eome.  But  for  Christianity 
this  compromise  with  other  faiths,  this  syncretism, 
practical  or  philosophic,  was  an  impossibility,  at  any 
rate  in  its  earlier  and  purer  days.2  With  sublime 
audacity  the  followers  of  Jesus  proclaimed  that  Christ 
must  be  all  and  in  all.  Once  more  we  come  back  by 
a  different  route  to  the  same  cause  of  persecution,  the 
essential  absoluteness  of  the  Christian  faith.  Christi- 
anity emblazoned  on  its  banners  its  loathing  and 
disdain  for  the  cults  around :  '  We  know  that  no  idol 
is  anything  in  the  world,  and  that  there  is  no  God 
but  one.'  And  the  Christians  demonstrated  their  con- 
victions by  the  logic  of  the  rack  and  the  stake.  We 
to-day,  who  suffer  from  the  curse  of  a  compromise  with 
the  world  which  gnaws  at  the  heart  of  the  Church, 
could  not  wish  it  otherwise.  An  accommodated 
Christianity  would  never  have  conquered  the  world. 

similarities  (sacraments,  &c.)  from  Christianity.  The  question  is  fully 
discussed  in  Cumont  TM  i  338  ff. 

1  In  Joh.  cvang.  tract. ;  Migne  PL  xxxv  p.  1440. 

2  Many  practices  in  the   Iloman  Catholic   Church  are  due  to 
syncretism. 


CAESAR  OR  CHKIST  87 

Nor  must  we  overlook  in  this  connexion  a  factor 
of  great  importance.  The  advent  of  Christianity 
coincided  with  a  great  spiritual  movement  in  the 
heathen  world,1  which  showed  itself,  not  merely  in  the 
rapid  spread  of  the  newer  cults,  the  worship  of  Isis, 
Mithra,  and  the  like,  but  in  the  revival  of  belief  in 
the  older  faiths  and  forms  ;  above  all  in  the  growth 
throughout  Europe  of  a  social  conscience.  We  see 
this  awakened  spiritual  life  in  the  guilds  and  charities, 
the  constant  efforts  to  extend  and  endow  education, 
to  found  orphanages  and  hospitals,  to  emancipate 
women,  and  to  rescue  the  slave  from  the  unlimited 
power  of  his  lord,  which  form  the  nobler  features  of 
the  legislation  of  the  Antonines,  sad  persecutors 
though  they  were  of  the  Church  of  Jesus.  That  this 
upward  movement  of  thought  and  creed,  of  which 
Mithraism  was  the  best  expression,  undoubtedly 
helped  the  ultimate  triumph  of  Christianity  seems  to 
us  a  certainty ;  nay,  who  shall  say  that  this  upward 
movement  was  not  the  work  of  the  Spirit  fulfilling 
Himself  in  diverse  ways  ?  But  its  first  effects  were 
far  otherwise.  During  the  later  years  of  the  Eepublic 
the  old  religion  had  almost  fallen  into  decay ;  scores 
of  temples  were  abandoned,  priesthoods  unfilled,  the 
very  names  of  the  gods,  as  Varro  tells  us,  recalled 
with  difficulty.2  For  political  reasons  the  Empire  set 
itself,  as  we  shall  see  later,3  to  the  revival  of  the 
neglected  religion,  the  rehabilitation  of  the  ancient 
sacred  colleges  of  Rome.  The  antique  ritual  of  the 

1  On  this  see  Dill  BSNA  iii  o.  3  and  iv. 
*  Dio.  Cass.  liv.  36 ;  Suet.  Octav.  30.  3  Cf.  infra  p.  203. 


88          PEKSECUTION  IN  THE  EAKLY  CHURCH 

Arval  brotherhood  was  made  a  potent  support  of  the 
imperial  power ;  the  worship  of  Jupiter  received  at 
the  hands  of  philosophers  a  new  meaning  and 
strength ;  while  the  secular  games  in  honour  of  Dis 
and  Proserpine  were  revived  and  celebrated  with  a 
wealth  and  magnificence  which  baffles  description, 
Horace  himself  writing  a  notable  hymn  for  the 
occasion.  With  all  this  revival  of  old  religions  and 
belief  Christianity,  in  the  nature  of  things,  was  bound 
to  come  into  conflict.  By  a  correct  instinct  paganisms 
of  all  sorts  discerned  in  the  infant  Church  their  only 
rival.  So,  while  the  new  Hercules  was  yet  in  the 
cradle,  they  sent  their  snakes  to  kill  him.  But 
Hercules  lived  to  cleanse  out  the  Augean  stalls. 


VI 

We  may  approach  this  argument,  with  the  same 
result,  from  another  direction.  Keligion  to  the 
Koman  was  chiefly  a  matter  of  patriotism.  The 
ecstatic  emotions  that  we  are  accustomed  to  associate 
with  the  idea,  the  spiritual  elevation,  the  recognition 
in  divers  forms  of  the  unseen  world  and  its  claims, 
for  him  had  little,  if  any,  existence.  But  of  one  thing 
he  was  certain  :  no  one  could  be  a  patriot  who  did  not 
show  due  honour  to  the  national  gods.  To  refuse  to 
do  this  was  to  bring  upon  oneself  the  charge  of 
'  atheism '  or  '  sacrilege.'  Belief  or  unbelief,  corre- 
spondence between  act  and  conviction,  was  beside  the 
mark;  as  regards  this  the  gods  could  defend  them- 
selves. As  the  schoolman  would  have  phrased  it,  the 


CAESAR   OB  CHRIST  89 

sole  concern  of  the  State  was  with  the  opus  operatum, 
the  adequate  discharge  of  the  formal  duty.  The  rest 
scarcely  counted :  "  the  various  modes  of  worship 
which  prevailed  in  the  Eoman  world  were  all  con- 
sidered by  the  people  as  equally  true  ;  by  the  philo- 
sopher as  equally  false;  and  by  the  magistrates  as 
equally  useful."  l 

Whatever  the  other  truth  that  may  underlie  this 
sneer  of  Gibbon,  the  last  clause  is  correct.  To  the 
Koman  magistrate  religious  recusancy  was  practically 
tantamount  to  political  disaffection.  '  The  introduc- 
tion of  strange  divinities/  said  Maecenas  to  Augustus, 
'  visit  at  once  with  hatred  and  chastisement  ...  for 
from  this  cause  conspiracies  and  combinations  and 
secret  conspiracies  are  formed  which  are  by  no  means 
expedient  for  a  monarchy/ 2  The  whole  speech  is 
probably  imaginary ;  none  the  less,  Augustus  acted  in 
the  spirit  of  the  advice,  while  his  successors,  with 
few  exceptions,  identified  themselves  with  his  policy. 
They  recognized  that  a  wise  conservatism  in  matters 
religious  tended  to  the  stability  of  the  body  political. 
One  great  exception  they  made.  They  left  the  local 
gods  their  rights,  but  established  alongside  of  their 
worship  a  new  imperial  religion  to  serve,  in  the  words 
of  Mommsen,  as  "  the  spiritual  symbol  of  the  political 
union."  The  claims  of  this  new  religion,  the  nature 
of  which  we  shall  explain  later,  they  insisted  should 
be  acknowledged  universally.  The  only  exception 
they  made  was  the  Jews.3 

1  Gibbon  i  28.  *  Dio.  Cass.-lii  36.    See  infra  p.  239. 

3  Dig.  1  1,  3,  3.    See  also  Infra  p.  10U  n.  4. 


90          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EAELY  CHURCH 

Now  it  was  precisely  this  religious  recusancy, 
between  which  and  rebellion  the  Eoman  judge  could 
see  but  little  difference,  that  Christianity  demanded 
from  all.  The  Church  spurned  the  claims  .both  of  the 
local  gods  and  of  the  new  religion,  the  foundation  and 
symbol  of  the  Empire.  "  The  foundation  was  sapped, 
the  symbol  rejected  by  the  Christians,  and  by  the 
Christians  first  and  alone."  l  To  the  Koman  governor 
it  was  the  Christian,  not  himself,  that  was  intolerant. 
Whether  or  not  Christians  worshipped  a  crucified  ass, 
as  popular  rumour  had  it,  was  a  matter  of  profound 
indifference  to  the  governor,  provided  only  the  Chris- 
tian would  take  his  part  as  a  citizen  in  discharg- 
ing the  dues  of  the  national  gods,  or  at  least  allow 
others  to  do  so  without  his  interference.  Said  the 
Prefect  of  Alexandria  to  Dionysius,  its  bishop,  whom  he 
was  anxious  to  save  from  the  lions,  '  What  prevents 
you  from  worshipping  this  one  god  of  yours,  together 
with  those  that  are  the  natural  (sic)  gods  ? '  '  We 
worship/  was  the  reply,  'no  other.' 2  It  was  this  abso- 
luteness of  the  Christian  faith,  this  intolerance  of 
others,  as  the  Komans  considered  it,  that  led  to  its 
being  charged  with  anarchism  because  of  its  neces- 
sarily dissolvent  effects  on  both  the  current  religions 
and  the  political  unity.  For  this  anarchism  on  its 
religious  side  the  Eomans  had  a  special  name.  They 
called  it  sacrilege,  or  atheism.8 

1  Mommsen  Expos.  1893,  viii  3.    Harnack  EGii  117  exaggerates 
thiB  into  the  sole  ground  of  persecution.     On  this  see  supra  p.  54. 

2  Euseb.  H&viill. 

3  It  was  the  '  crimen  laesae  Romanae  religionis '  (Tert.  Apol  24), 


CAESAR  OR  CHRIST  91 

From  his  own  standpoint  the  Roman  was  right. 
The  Christians  were  *  atheists '  (aOeoi,  "  men  without 
gods  "),  who  proclaimed  loudly  that  the  gods — radiant 
Apollo,  '  the  Saviour '  Aesculapius,  even  Jupiter 
Capitolinus  himself — were  but  malignant  '  demons  ' 
ensconced  behind  wood  and  stone ;  the  imps  of  Satan, 
who  had  thus  introduced  the  worship  of  themselves 
in  order,  to  quote  Tertullian,  '  that  they  might 
obtain  their  favourite  food  of  flesh  fumes  and  blood.' 1 

from  which,  unlike  the  Jews,  the  Christians  were  not  absolved  (Modes- 
tinus  ap.  Dig.  xlviii  13,  4).  For  the  charge  of  '  atheism '  against  tho 
Christians,  see  Justin  I  Apol.  5  ;  6 ;  13 ;  Mart.  Polyc.  3  ;  9 ;  Athenag. 
Suppl.  3;  4;  30;  Clem.  Alex.  Strom,  vii  1. 

afleJrTjs, '  atheism,'  would  seem  to  be  a  translation  of  sacrilegium 
(Tert.  Apol.  2, '  noinen  sacrilegium. ' ;  10 ;  Neumann  ESK  16  n.  4),  the 
more  natural  avefteia  being  preoccupied  by  majestas  (Ramsay  ChE  260 
n.).  "When  Thekla  was  exhibited  in  the  arena  a  tablet  was  placed  on 
her  with  the  inscription  T)JV  Up6arv\ov,  i.e.  sacrilega  (Gebhardt  AMS 
225).  Technically,  as  Mommsen  has  pointed  out,  sacrilegium  in  law 
was  defined  as  stealing  from  a  temple  (Dig.  xlviii  13,  11,  1,  which 
explains  Acts  xix  37).  But  the  mob  were  not  lawyers,  though 
Tertullian  (ad  Scap.  2)  as  a  lawyer  defends  the  Christians  from  the 
charge  by  pointing  to  tho  legal  definition. 

Since  the  above  was  printed  a  complete  study  of  *  Atheism '  has 
appeared  by  Harnack  TU  (xiv)  4.  I  have  not  had  the  opportunity  of 
studying  it. 

1  The  following  are  the  chief  references  to  this  idea  that  I  have 
met  with : — 

St.  Paul  I  Cor.  x  20,  ihefom  et  origo  of  the  whole,  on  which,  how- 
ever, see  the  valuable  note  in  T.  C.  Edwards  Ep.  Cor.  (1885) ;  St.  Paul 
must  not  be  held  responsible  for  the  later  developments.  Tertulliau 
Apol.  22  ff.,  a  most  important  passage,  de  Spectac.  13.  Justin  M.  I. 
Apol.  5 1  14 ;  25 ;  54.  Origen  Gels,  iii  35,  vii  69,  et  passim.  (On  the 
whole,  Origen's  statement,  as  we  might  expect,  is  free  from  exaggera- 
tions.) Athenagoras  Suppl.  25-6.  Lactantius  Instit.  Div.  ii.  14-19. 
Miiiuc.  Felix  Oct.  27.  Tatian  ad  Graecos  7-18.  Augustine  de  Civ. 
Dei  viii  28.  These  demons  were  the  offspring  of  the  angels  in  Gen.  vi 
2.  See  Justin  II  Apol  5;  Lactant.  I.e.  The  student  will  notice  the 


92          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

Other  Christian  writers  and  preachers  were  not 
quite  so  'atheistic.'  The  gods,  they  said,  were 
ancient  kings  who  in  times  prehistoric  obtained 
apotheosis.1  But  this  more  charitable  view  was  held 
by  few.  The  science  of  comparative  religion  was  yet 
unborn.  The  majority  held  that  it  was  a  devil-ridden 
world,  whose  temples  and  shrines,  however  majestic, 
were  among  the  works  of  darkness  which  Christ  came 
to  destroy,  and  which  His  followers  also  must  seek  to 
overturn,  if  necessary,  by  physical  force  and  outrage.2 
"With  these  hordes  of  hell  there  could  be  no  com- 
promise :  '  though  there  be  that  are  called  gods,  yet 
to  us  there  is  one  God  the  Father,  of  whom  are  all 
things,  and  we  unto  Him ;  and  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
through  whom  are  all  things  and  we  through  Him.' 3 
This  was  the  foundation  of  the  faith,  the  first  article 
of  their  creed.  We  can  scarcely  wonder  that  the 
Komans  called  such  uncompromising  monotheists  by 
the  hard  name  of  '  atheists.'  The  Christians,  they 
said,  reduce  our  deities  to  devils.  '  They  despise  the 
temples  as  dead  houses,  they  scorn  the  gods,  they 

absence  from  this  list  of  Clement  of  Alexandria.  This  is  only  what 
we  might  expect  from  that  wise  mediator  of  the  old  and  new,  whose 
great  idea  was  the  preparation  of  the  world  for  the  coming  of  Christ. 
Clement  could  not  approve  of  the  twist  given  by  Christian  theologians 
to  the  elaborate  theory  of '  daemons '  of  Plutarch  and  Maximus  of  Tyre. 

1  Athenag.  Suppl.  28  if.,  who  gives  the  example  of  Antinous  (infra 
p.  98).    So  also  Pseudo-Cyprian  Quod  idola  dii  nonsint  1  ff.,  who,  in 
cc.  6,  7,  falls  back  on  the  first  theory.     So  by  exception  Tert.  ad  Nat. 
ii  12  ff.    Minuo.  Felix  Oct.  20-1.    Aristides  Apol  13  holds  for  the 
most  part  the  myth  theory,  '  some  are  hymns  and  songs.'    See  also 
Augustine  Civ.  Dei.  vii  18. 

2  For  the  outrages  of  Christians  on  heathen  temples  see  infra  p.  162. 
*  I  Cor.  viii  5. 


CAESAR  OB  CHRIST  93 

mock  sacred  things.' l  To  this  charge  there  was  no 
possible  answer,  inasmuch  as  it  was  true ;  the  glory 
and  danger  of  the  Christian  faith. 

There  was  another  way,  of  lesser  importance,  in 
which  the  Christians  seemed  to  be  '  atheists/  Strange 
as  it  seems  to  us  to-day,  Christian  monotheism  did 
not  altogether  appeal  to  some  thinkers.  The  pagan 
Caecilius  complains  that  the  Christians  made  the 
heavens  a  wilderness  and  solitude  with  their  '  one 
god,  lonely  and  forsaken' — '  deus  unicus,  solitarius, 
destitutus ' — the  unutterable  isolation  and  aloofness 
of  whose  position  in  heaven  was  fitly  represented  by 
his  service  on  earth,  '  who  has  neither  temples,  altars, 
victims,  nor  ceremonies.' 2  To  the  Greek  mind  this 
'  lonely  heaven '  seemed  an  '  atheistic '  impossibility.3 
Polytheism,  it  is  true,  in  the  sense  of  a  number  of 
gods  of  equal  power,  was  a  discarded  theory.  As 
Plutarch  and  Maximus  of  Tyre  are  ever  insisting, 
there  must  be  one  god  supreme  above  all  others. 
But  this  did  not  prevent  belief  in  the  existence  of 
lesser  deities,  "  mediatised  gods,"  as  Dr.  Bigg  calls 
them,  borrowing  a  figure  from  the  relation  in  the 
German  Empire  of  the  lesser  kings  to  the  Emperor. 
All  this  hierarchy,  with  the  underlying  conception  of 
the  '  monarchy '  of  one  god,  Christianity  swept  away. 

«  See  the  pagan  Caecilius  in  Minuc.  Felix  Oct.  8. 

2  Minuc.  Felix  Oct.  cc.  8,  10. 

3  So,  for  that  matter,  is  it  to  the  Christian,  as  we  see  from  the  rapid 
acceptance  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and  the  wide  belief  in 
innumerable  angels,  &c.    This  last  let  in  polytheism  into  the  Church 
by  a  back  door.    Of.  Harnack  EC  i  291  n.,  and  the  dangerous  tendency 
in  Justin  I  Apol.  6. 


94          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EAPxLY  CHURCH 

'  The  heathen/  writes  Tertullian,  '  hurl  in  our  teeth 
that  we  preach  two  gods  or  three  gods  .  .  .  We,  say 
they,  maintain  the  monarchy/ l  Some  maintained 
the  '  monarchy  '  by  means  of  a  theory  of  *  daemons/ 
partly  human  and  part  divine,  which  degenerated 
with  the  vulgar  into  the  wildest  pantheism.2  Others, 
for  instance  Porphyry,  reasoned  more  boldly  still 
against  the  Christian  conception : 

4  Let  us  proceed  to  enquire  explicitly  about  tlie  monarchy  of  the 
one  God,  and  the  joint-rule  of  those  deities  who  are  worshipped.  .  .  . 
A  monarch  is  not  one  who  is  alone,  but  one  who  rules  alone  over  sub- 
jects of  kindred  nature  with  himself;  as  the  Emperor  Hadrian  for 
instance,  who  was  a  monarch,  not  because  he  stood  alone,  or  because  he 
ruled  cattle  or  sheep,  but  because  he  was  king  over  human  beings  of 
like  nature  with  his  own.' 3 

To  men  of  this  way  of  thinking  Christianity  was 
bound  to  seem  a  choice  between  tritheism  and  *  athe- 
ism.' For  the  most  part  they  chose  the  latter. 


VII 

The  religious  system  of  the  Empire  was  thus 
built  upon  a  foundation  of  liberty  for  local  cults,  a 
very  different  thing  from  toleration  of  a  Catholic 
Church.  Within  certain  limits  the  stranger  might 
carry  his  worship  and  ritual  with  him  when  he  moved 
to  another  portion  of  the  Koman  world.  But  to 

1  Tert.  ad  Prax.  3. 

2  For  Plutarch's  « daemons '  see  Dill  RSNA  425-40 ;  and  cf.  Bigg 
CTRE  72-6. 

*  Porphyry   in  Macarius  Magnes  Apoeritica  iv    20.     Quoted   at 
length  in  Harnnck  EG  i  37  n. 


CAESAR  OR  CHRIST  95 

obtain  this  freedom  he  must  be  willing  to  live  and  let 
live,  and  to  abstain,  if  needful,  from  proselytizing 
zeal.  All  was  local,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  all  was 
universal.  For  Augustus,  the  better  to  work  out 
those  ideas  of  universal  citizenship,  equality,  and 
government  for  which  the  Empire  stood,  had  found 
it  necessary  to  institute,  or  rather  develop,1  through- 
out the  Empire,  a  common  religion  to  give  a  unity  to 
provinces  otherwise  diverse  in  creed,  language,  and 
custom.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a  universal 
church  with  a  priesthood,2  sacrifices,  and  temples  of 
its  own,  in  conception  and  aim  very  similar  and  yet 
very  different  from  the  Catholic  Church  with  which 
it  was  destined  to  come  into  conflict.  But,  such  as  it 
was,  the  worship  of  Kome  and  Augustus  undoubtedly 
supplied  something,  which  the  local  polytheisms  had 
failed  to  give,  a  common  religious  link  holding 
together  the  innumerable  races  and  creeds  of  a 
dominion  that  stretched  from  the  Irish  Sea  to  the 
Euphrates.  In  connexion  with  this  new  worship 
there  grew  up  a  system  of  festivals  and  games,  the 
conduct  and  cost  of  which  fell  to  the  lot  of  the 
president  of  the  provincial  diet3  (in  Asia  called 
Asiarch,  in  Galatia  the  Galatarch,  and  so  on),4 

1  The  tendency  was  in  existence  in  the  Republic.    See  the  able 
paper  of  Professor  Fiddes,  The  Beginnings  of  Caesar  Worship,  in  the 
Owens  College  Historical  Essays  (1902),  pp.  1-16. 

2  Sodales  Augustales  (Marquardt  Horn.  Staatsverwalt.  iii  463). 
8  Commune,  or  Tb  Koivbv . 

4  Ramsay  CBP  i  76  differs  from  Mommsen  in  holding  that  the 
high  priests  of  the  municipal  cults  of  the  emperors  held  these  shows 
as  well  as  the  Asiarchs.  If  so,  the  more  opportunities  of  persecution 
would  arise  (see  infra  p.  102,  n.). 


96          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

though  in  many  places  endowments  for  the  purpose 
were  soon  provided  by  the  zeal  of  individual  citizens 
or  towns.1 

The  worship  of  Borne  and  Augustus  speedily 
became  a  fixed  part  of  the  imperial  economy,  in  the 
development  of  which  the  servile  cities  of  Asia  vied  with 
each  other.2  Domitian  took  the  matter  so  seriously, 

1  In  Asia  the  chief  priest  of  the  new  religion  was  generally,  in 
later  times  invariably,  the  Asiarch,  who  appears  to  have  been  elected 
for  a  period  of  five  years,  and  to  have  retained  the  title  after  laying 
down  the  office,  thus  forming  a  Council  {Acts  xix  31 ;  see  also  Ramsay 
CSP  i  465).    The  games  were  named  after  him.     The  Asiarch  had  not 
merely  the  oversight  of  the  worship  of  Caesar  and  its  annual  festival, 
but  a  superintendence  over  religious  matters  in  general,  with  full 
military  forces  at  his  disposal  (Euseb.  HE  viii  14,  9).    This  will 
explain  the  constant  references  to  him  and  his  brethren  (Galatarch, 
&c.)  in  the  various  Acts  of  martyrs.     The  famous  letter  of  Julian  to 
the  Galatarch  (Ep.  49)  gives  a  clear  view  of  his  obligations  at  a  time 
when  heathenism  was  collapsing.     See  on  his  position  Mommsen 
PEE  i  345-9;  Lightf.  Ign.  iii  407-11;  and  for  a  slightly  different 
view,  Ramsay  DB  s.v.    Hardy  (o.c.  infra)  considers  the  appointment 
was  but  for  one  year. 

In  Gaul  the  annual  festival  first  instituted  by  Drusus  in  B.o.  12 
was  held  at  Lyons  on  the  1st  of  August,  under  the  lead  of '  the  priest 
of  the  three  Gauls,'  who  does  not  seem  ever  to  have  borne  the  title  of 
Galatarch.  The  festival  was  held  at  the  same  time  as  the  Diet  of  the 
64  cantons  of  the  three  Gauls,  whose  powers  of  local  government 
extended  even  to  the  appointment  of  taxes.  In  Britain  the  seat  of 
the  diet,  such  as  it  was,  and  the  chief  altar  of  Caesar,  was  probably  at 
Colchester.  For  Germany,  the  cantons  of  which  were  never  unified, 
as  those  of  Gaul,  under  one  diet,  the  chief  altar  of  Caesar  was  at 
Cologne.  The  Diet  of  Achaia  met  at  Argos,and  on  one  occasion 
dedicated  statues  of  Trajan  and  Hadrian  at  Olympia.  The  church 
of  Ainay  at  Lyons  is  founded  on  the  site  of  the  old  altar  of  Augustus. 
(See  Hardy, "  Provincial  Concilia  from  Augustus  to  Diocletian,"  in 
Eng.  Hist.  Rev.  April,  1890,  for  a  good  summary  of  what  is  known  on 
the  matter;  see  also  Momm.  PEE  i  92-8,  117-8,  191  n.,  264  n.) 

2  See  a  good  note  by  Westcott  Ch  W  261-2.     Swete  Apoc.  Ixxxv. 
Better  still,  Ramsay  CSP  passim. 


CAESAR  OB  CHRIST  97 

that  he  ordered  all  official  proclamations  to  begin 
with  formulae  recognizing  his  deity.1  In  Asia  the 
temple  of  Borne  and  Augustus  was  first  erected  in 
B.C.  29  at  Pergamum,2  the  official  capital  of  the 
province, '  where  the  throne  of  Satan  is.' 3  The  writer 
of  the  Apocalypse  has  handed  down  to  us  the  name 
of  one  brave  Christian,  Antipas,4  who  suffered  death 
there  rather  than  join  in  the  worship  of  *  the  Beast.' 
With  the  decay  of  Pergamum  the  great  city  of 
Smyrna,  the  home  of  Polycarp,  became  the  head 
centre  of  the  new  cult.5  Within  a  few  years  all  the 
chief  places  of  judicial  circuit  in  Asia  had  their 
temples  to  Caesar,  and  their  festivals  in  his  honour.6 
Their  proudest  boast  was  the  confirmation  upon  them 
by  the  diet  of  the  province  of  the  title  of  '  Keeper  of 
the  Imperial  Temple.'7  On  the  death  of  Tiberius 

1  *  Dominus  et  dens  noster  hoc  fieri  jubet.'  Suet.  Dom.  13.  Cf. 
Westcott  ChW  255,  n.  2 ;  Conybeare  MEG  105 ;  and  for  similar  coins 
of  Aurelian, « domino  et  deo'  Le  Blant  SAM  126.  With  Aurelian 
this  was  a  step  in  the  transformation  of  the  Prinoipate  into  absolutism 
(Bury's  Gibbon  i  382  n.) 

*  Tac.  Ann.  iv  37 ;  and  Furneaux's  note,  ib.  i  10, 5. 

8  But  Pergamum  was  also  the  chief  seat  of  the  worship  of  Aescu- 
lapius (Momm.  PEE  i  350 ;  Ramsay  SO  125),  and  it  is  possible,  though 
less  likely  (Swete  Apoc.  34  n.),  that  the  reference  is  to  this. 

4  Apoc.  ii  13,  cf.  xiii  8, 15  ;  Ramsay  SO  294 ;  Swete  Apoc.  35  n. 

4  According  to  Tac.  Ann.  iv  cc.  56, 15,  Smyrna  was  the  first  to  erect 
a  temple  to  Rome  (B.C.  195).  But  not  until  A.D.  26  did  it  erect  a 
temple  to  Tiberius.  For  the  '  theologians,'  '  choristers '  (hymnodoi), 
and  special  privileges  of  Smyrna  as  the  head  centre  of  Caesar  worship, 
see  Lightf.  Ign.  i  451.  Ramsay  CBP  i  630-1,  646,  points  out  their 
existence  elsewhere. 

6  In  view  of  Apoc.  i-iii  the  list  is  of  interest :  Smyrna,  Ephesus, 
Pergamum,  Sardis,  Philadelphia,  Laodicea,  and  Cyaicus.    (Ramsay 
CBP  i  55 ;  and  on  Cyzicus,  Mommgen  PEE  i  348.) 

7  vewK6pos:  see  Mommsen  PEE  i  346  n. ;  Lightf.  Ign.  iii  405-6; 

H 


98          PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

eleven  cities  of  Asia  struggled  for  the  honour  of 
erecting  a  temple  to  his  memory.  From  Asia  the 
worship  spread  to  every  province  of  the  Empire. 
There  was  a  temple  to  Claudius  erected  at  Colchester 
during  his  lifetime,  the  costly  ritual  of  which  was 
one  of  the  causes  of  Boudicca's  revolt.1  In  the  West 
the  new  religion  was  little  more  than  a  matter  of 
magnificent  patriotic  ceremonial.  But  in  the  East 
there  existed  "  a  tendency  to  give  reality  to  this 
imperial  cult  by  identifying  the  divine  Emperor  with 
the  local  god,  whatever  form  the  latter  had."  2 

This  apotheosis  was  not  limited  to  the  reigning 
Caesar,  but  was  extended  to  his  family  and  favourites. 
Coins  still  exist  testifying  to  the  deification  of  no  less 
than  forty-eight  members  of  the  imperial  families, 
including  the  shameless  Faustina.3  The  worst  case 
of  all  was  the  consecration  by  Hadrian  of  his  vicious 
favourite  —  the  word  is  a  euphemism  —  Antinoiis, 
after  his  mysterious  death  in  the  Nile.  '  All  men/ 
says  Justin,  '  were  eager  through  fear  to  reverence 
him  as  a  god,  though  they  knew  who  he  was  and 
whence  he  had  sprung.' 4  "  His  statues  rose  in 

Ramsay  SG  232,  259  ;  and  for  the  meaning  of  the  Neocorate,  Ramsay 
GBP  i  58-9. 

1  Tac.  Ann.  xiv  31 ;  Momm.  PEE  i  192-2. 

2  Ramsay  SC  123,  231 ;  GBP  i  54. 

3  Westcott    ChW  263,  266.    Poppaea,  the  wife  of   Nero,  was 
worshipped  at  Akmonia  as  *  Imperial  Fertility '  (Ramsay  GBP  i  637-40, 
who  points  out  the  part  in  this  cult  played  by  the  Jews).    For  the 
potheosis  of  the  elder  Faustina  see  plate  in  Duruy  KB  v  168,  and 
for  that  of  the  younger  ib.  v  208. 

4  Justin  I  Apol.  29.     Cf.  Athenag.  Suppl  30 ;  *  Antinoiis,  through 
the  benevolence  of  your  ancestors,  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  god.' 


CAESAR  OR  CHRIST  99 

every  market-place;  his  soul  was  supposed  to  have 
found  a  home  in  a  new  star  in  the  region  of  the 
Milky  Way ;  temples  were  built  in  his  honour,  and  the 
strange  cult  was  maintained  for  at  least  one  hundred 
years  after  any  motive  could  be  found  for  adulation." 
The  obelisk  now  on  Monte  Pincio  at  Konie  was 
dedicated  to  his  memory;  in  Egypt  a  town  called 
Besantinopolis  made  him  their  special  deity,  while  at 
Lanuvium,  the  burial-club  of  the  place — whose  rules 
by  rare  fortune  we  still  possess  —  combined  their 
other  functions  with  the  worship  of  Antinoiis  and 
Diana.1 

The  Christians  alone 2  stood  out  against  this  mark 
of  a  theocratic  despotism.  Whatever  the  political 
value  of  the  new  cult  in  the  consolidation  of  the 
Empire,  they  would  never  bow  the  knee  to  the 
emperors,  around  whose  heads,  from  the  days  of  Nero 
onwards,  were  gilded  darting  rays  in  token  of  their 
divine  solar  ancestry.  No  patriotic  words  as  to  the 

Orig.  Gels,  in  36-8,  viii  9 ;  Hegesippua  in  Euseb.  HE  iv  8 ;  Orac,. 
Sibyll.  viii  57-8  (undoubtedly  a  Christian  Sibyl),  Tatiau  adv  Graec 
10,  Theoph.  ad  Autolyc.  iii  8,  Tert.  adv.  Marc  i  18,  all  testify  to  the 
impression  this  produced  on  the  Christians. 

1  Dill  RSNA  478,  260-3,  277.    According  to  Ramsay  GBP  i  309, 
the  town  of  Olbasa,  in  Phrygia,  set  up  a   statue  to   Vergil  (dei 
Maronis).    I  prefer  with  Mommsen  to  take  it  as  the  Thracian  god 
Maron;  though  after  Antinoiis  all  things  are   possible.    Any  dead 
person,  even  a  slave,  might,  however,  have  a  cult  as  a  tfpus  (Ramsay, 
GBP  i  384).    This  fact  taken  over  into  the  Christian  Church  accounts 
largely  for  saint- worship.    The  modern  name  of  Lanuvium  is  Civitfc 
Lavinia. 

2  For  the  action  of  the  Jews,  see  infra  p.  109,  n.    According  to 
Suet.  Calig.  27,  Caius  put  Romans  to  death  for  not  swearing  by  his 
genius.    But  their  objection  was  political. 


100        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

Genius  of  the  Empire,  no  sophisms  of  the  elder  Pliny 
that '  for  a  mortal  to  help  mortals  is  the  essence  of 
deity/  no  philosophic  subtleties  about  the  divine  life 
of  the  State  and  its  connexion  with  an  unseen  order, 
could  deceive  the  Christian  into  forgetting  the  degra- 
dation for  God  and  man  alike  of  this  system  of  apo- 
theosis. He  saw  clearly  the  insult  to  God ;  the  putting 
the  Genius  of  the  Empire  in  the  place  of  Divine 
Providence,  the  attributing  to  man  prerogatives  which 
belong  solely  to  the  Almighty.  He  realized  the 
degradation  of  man  resulting  from  thus  fixing  the 
worship  of  men  upon  one  of  themselves,  however 
exalted.  He  knew  that  in  all  ages  a  man's  views  of 
his  god  are  the  measures  of  his  ideals  for  himself  and 
his  neighbour.  He  was  aware  of  all  that  could  be 
said  in  its  favour ;  that  it  was  a  symbol  of  unity,  the 
"  keystone  of  the  imperial  policy," l  an  incarnation 
of  the  race's  solidarity,  the  recognition  of  a  divine 
foundation  for  order  and  empire,  and  the  like.  Such 
specious  arguments  did  not  move  him.  For  the  Chris- 
tian there  was  but  one  Lord  and  Master,  to  whom 
he  owned  supreme  allegiance ;  this  he  was  prepared 
to  prove  by  the  renunciation  of  all  things,  even  life 
itself.  For  the  Christian  the  unity  of  the  race  was 
symbolized  not  by  a  Tiberius  or  a  Marcus  Aurelius, 
but  by  the  incarnation  of  Jesus  Christ ;  in  the  Man 
Christ  Jesus  alone  was  the  hope  of  humanity.  This 
apotheosis  of  Jesus,  to  look  at  the  matter  for  the 
moment  from  the  standpoint  of  the  heathen  philo- 
sopher, he  claimed  to  be  on  a  different  footing  from  the 

1  Ramsay  ChESZl,  Mommsen  Expos.  1893,  viii  2. 


CAESAR  OB  CHRIST  101 

apotheosis  of  Claudius  or  Vespasian.  Leaving  on  one 
side  all  question  of  characte*,  the  one  was-tfoe  apotheo- 
sis of  a  supreme  renunciation,  the  other  the  idolatry 
of  success.  And  there  IP  aotlring  so  ffctffl'-w  the  long 
run  to  all  higher  instincts  and  aspirations  as  the 
idolatry  of  success,  whether  in  the  form  of  a  second- 
century  emperor  or  a  twentieth-century  millionaire. 

This  imperial  cult,  because  of  its  universal 
character  and  obligations,  thus  furnished  an  easy 
touchstone  whereby  the  Christians  could  be  distin- 
guished ;  a  matter  beyond  the  power  of  merely  local 
polytheisms.  Moreover,  it  proved  a  useful  means  of 
summary  conviction.  The  alternative,  "  Caesar  is 
Lord  "  and  "  Christ  is  Lord,"  was  in  itself  a  judicial 
process,  only  needing  an  altar  and  its  usual  emblems 
to  be  complete.  The  Christian  who  refused  this 
sacrifice1  fell  automatically  under  the  charge  of 
majestas,  i.e.  of  mortal  insult  or  treason  to  the 
Emperor,2  who  represented  in  his  own  person  the 
majesty,  wisdom,  and  beneficent  power  of  Eome. 
Nor  was  the  peril  slight.  The  Asiarch,  Galatarch, 
and  other  presidents  of  the  diets,  were  armed  with 
ample  powers  for  calling  in  the  aid  of  the  secular 
arm  against  all  who  refused  to  take  part  in  this 
popular  cult. 

The  rule  that  every  Christian  should  sacrifice  was  allowed  by 
Trajan  (infra  p.  210),  insisted  upon  by  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  made  a 
formal  edict  by  Decius.  See  Harnack's  note  in  Conybeare  MEG  36, 
and  cf.  infra  p.  244. 

*  Cf.  Ulpian  in  Dig.  xlviii  4,  1.  But  majestas,  as  Mommsen  has 
shown  (see  infra  Appendix  E),  included  dishonour  to  the  national 
gods*  fee  also  supra  p.  14  n.  1. 


102        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

We  can  thus  see  how  it  came  to  pass  that  the 
annual  festivals  instituted  :in  every  province  of  the 
Empire  on*  the  Emperor's  'name-day  were  generally 
the  occasion* :  fqr  .  thfc  breaking  out  against  the 
Christians  of  the  smouldering  fires  of  hatred  and 
persecution.  On  these  days  the  magistrates,  even  if 
otherwise  averse  to  cruelty,  were  not  anxious,  for 
political  reasons,  to  restrain  the  people  ;from  their 
exhibitions  of  loyalty.  The  festival  of  Caesar  supplied 
all  that  was  needed ;  vast  crowds  gathered  together 
from  every  city  of  the  province  ;  the  presence  of  the 
official  diets  and  of  judges  with  power  of  summary 
conviction,  spurred  on  too  by  the  sense  of  personal 
affront  to  themselves  as  the  high-priests  of  the  new 
ritual ;  beasts  of  prey  already  procured  for  the  games 
— a  most  important  point  this,  lions  and  tigers  were 
not  always  in  stock — a  frenzied  jingoism  on  the  part 
of  the  mob,  and  an  endeavour  on  the  part  of  the  Jews 
to  divert  attention  from  themselves  and  their  preju- 
dices to  the  hated  Christian.  Of  this  connexion  we 
have  an  illustration  in  the  martyrdom  of  Polycarp, 
who  was  burned  at  Smyrna  on  Caesar's  festival, 
February  23,  155,  'in  the  consulship  of  Statius 
Quadratus,  but  in  the  reign  of  the  Eternal  King.' 1 

1  See  infra  p.  305  n.,  and  Lightf.  Ign.  i  714.  The  great  outbreak 
at  Lyons  (infra  p.  295)  furnishes  another  illustration  (supra  p.  96  n.). 
So  also  the  case  of  Thekla  at  Antioch  (see  infra  p.  140  n. ;  Gebhardt 
AMS  224;  Conybeare  MEG  76,  with  Conybeare's  note  on  p.  88). 
Thekla  the  Phrygian  was  especially  reserved  for  the  approaching 
games  at  Caesarea  (Euseb.  MP  3).  Perpetua  and  her  companions 
were  sacrificed  on  '  Geta's  birthday '  (infra  p.  314  n.  1).  Compare 
also  the  explanation  given  by  Lightf.  Ign.  i  514  of  the  story  of 
Felicitas,  Januarius,  &c.  (infra  p.  320  n.  3). 


CAESAR  OB  CHRIST  103 

'In  the  reign  of  the  Eternal  King1 — the  phrase 
occurs  again  and  again  in  the  records  of  the  martyrs. 
The  instinct  which  led  one  Christian  Church  when 
writing  to  another  to  describe  itself  as  '  The  Church 
which  has  its  transitory  home'1  at  Lyons  or  else- 
where, reveals  itself  again  in  this  scorn  of  the  temporal 
sub  specie  aeternitatis.  Martyrdom  might  be  the 
inevitable  outcome,  but  after  all  it  was  a  struggle 
between  the  Emperor  of  a  moment  and  the  King  of 
endless  ages,  who  had  chosen  for  Himself  the  Crown 
of  Thorns  and  deigned  to  allow  the  meanest  of  His 
subjects  to  don  the  royal  insignia. 

VIII 

We  must  bring  this  chapter  to  a  conclusion.  But 
the  student  should  realize  all  that  our  argument 
involves.  For  two  hundred  years  the  leaders  among 
the  Christians  were  branded  as  'anarchists'  and 
'  atheists,'  and  hated  accordingly.  For  two  hundred 
years — we  take  a  broad  survey,  qualifications  and 
details  have  been  pointed  out,  or  will  be  dealt  with 
later — to  become  a  Christian  meant  the  great  renun- 
ciation, the  joining  a  despised  and  persecuted  sect, 
the  swimming  against  the  tide  of  popular  prejudice, 
the  coming  under  the  ban  of  the  Empire,  the  possi- 
bility at  any  moment  of  imprisonment  and  death 

1  UapotKovvres  (irapoiKia,  hence  *  parish ')  and  not  KaroiKovvres, 
Eueeb.  HE  v  (1)  3.  Until  the  discovery  of  better  MSS.  of  the 
Martyrium  Polycarpi  (Geb.  AM8  10),  the  phrase  Paaitevovros  els  robs 
aiwvas  'Iijffov  Xpurrov  was  incorrectly  supposed  to  be  a  mark  of  late 
date  in  any  Acta. 


104        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

under  its  most  fearful  forms.1  For  two  hundred  years 
he  that  would  follow  Christ  must  count  the  cost,  and 
be  prepared  to  pay  the  same  with  his  liberty  and 
life.  For  two  hundred  years  the  mere  profession  of 
Christianity  was  itself  a  crime.  Christianas  sum  was 
almost  the  one  plea  for  which  there  was  no  forgive- 
ness, in  itself  all  that  was  necessary  as  a  '  title  *  on 
the  back  of  the  condemned.2  He  who  made  it  was 
allowed  neither  to  present  apology  nor  to  call  in  the 
aid  of  a  pleader.  '  Public  hatred,'  writes  Tertullian, 
'  asks  but  one  thing,  and  that  not  investigation  into 
the  crimes  charged,  but  simply  the  confession  of  the 
Christian  Name.' 

1  *  In  the  case  of  any  other  criminal,'  he  continues, '  it  is  not  enough 
that  he  declare  himself  to  be  a  homicide,  sacrilegious,  incestuous,  an 
enemy  to  the  State.  Before  you  give  sentence,  judges,  you  enquire 
vigorously  into  the  circumstances,  the  nature  of  the  deed,  the  time, 
place,  and  manner  of  its  commission,  the  witnesses  and  accomplices. 
But  in  the  trial  of  the  Christians  all  this  is  dispensed  with.' 3 

For  the  Name  itself  in  periods  of  stress  not  a  few 
meant  the  rack,  the  blazing  shirt  of  pitch,  the  lion, 
the  panther,  or  in  the  case  of  maidens  an  infamy 
worse  than  death. 

1  Cf.  Renan  EG  316. 

8  Case  of  Attains  at  Lyons,  Euseb.  HE  v  (1)  44 ;  Gebhardt  AMS 
p.  37 :  irivaKOS  avrbv  irpo&yovros  eV  $  eyfypairro  'Pw^ucuo-T/'  ovrds  eVrti/ 
ATTCCA.OS  6  XptffTiav6s.  See  infra  p.  295  n.  3  ;  and  supra  p.  20. 

3  Tert.  Apol.  2 ;  ad  Nat.  2, 3 ;  Justin  II.  Apol.  2 ;  I.  Apol  4 ;  Trypho 
96 ;  and  for  the  first  century  I  Pet .  iv  15,  16.  Illustrations  abound  in 
the  Acts  of  Martyrs.  A  famous  case  is  that  of  Vettius  Epagathus  at 
Lyons.  See  infra  p.  296. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  CAUSES  OF  HATEED 

If  ye  were  of  the  world,  the  world  (6  /c^os)  would  love  its  own ; 
but  because  ye  are  not  of  the  world,  but  I  chose  you  out  of  the  world, 
therefore  the  world  hateth  you. — John  xv  19. 

So  to  the  wild  wolf  Hate  were  sacrificed 

The  panting,  huddled  flock,  whose  crime  was  Christ. 

WILLIAM  WATSON. 

Ah,  for  their  faith ! 

And  I  would  splash  the  flames  about  my  head 
Gladly  as  in  a  bath  for  splendid  death. 

STEPHEN  PHILLIPS. 

I  bid  them  look  on  you, 

And  see  there  what  was  the  highest  throne  on  earth — 
The  throne  of  suffering,  where  the  Son  of  God 
Endured  and  triumphed. 

0.  KINGSLET. 


CONTENTS 

I,  p.  107.  Judaism  and  Christianity — Its  strength — Effect  of  the 
destruction  of  the  Temple— Popular  hatred  of  the  Jews — Their 
numbers  and  influence  —  Hatred  of  Christians  — %  Fontes  perse- 
cutionum '— Conon— Jewish  Christians — Pella — '  The  relatives 
of  our  Lord ' — Symeon. 

f  II,  p.  125.  Popular  superstition  and  Christianity — Belief  in  magic 
— Demons— The  Christian  attitude — St.  Augustine  and  St.  Martin 
— The  Christian  exorcists— Christians  and  magic— Christians 
and  the  disasters  of  nature —Alexander  of  Abonutichos— The 
five  sculptors  of  Sirmium. 

III,  p.  138.  Christianity  and  the  familia — Anti-social  views — Paul 
and    Thekla— Pollio—  "Call    no    man    father "  — Dativus    and 
Victoria  —  Mixed  marriages  —  Patria  potestas —  Callistus  and 
the  marriage  with  freedmen  of  noble-born  girls. 

IV,  p.  148.  Christians  and  property— Slavery — Slaves  as  priests — 
Ebionite  conceptions— Maran  Atha — Sibylline  Oracles — Effect  of 
the  preaching  of  retribution — 'The  Crucified  repels  all  glad- 
ness.' 

V,  p.  157.    Christian    sacraments — "Kiss  of   peace" — Charge  of 
cannibalism — The  taurobolium — Apuleius — Christian  aggression 
— Leo  of  Patara — Romanus — Theodore  the  recruit. 

VI,  p.  165.  A  peculiar  people — A  peculiar  dialect— Early  Puritans 
— The  via  media  —  Ep.   Diognetus  —  Christian  names  —  The 
Christian  and  business — The  Christian  and  the  schools — Cassian — 
Converted  actors — Providing  work— The  Christian  and  social  life 
— The  Christian  and  offices  in  the  State — The  Christian  and  the 
army — Mar  cell  us — Dasius— Mithraism    and  the  army — Militia 
Christi— Maximilian  of  Theveste— "  The  Thundering  Legion  "— 
« The  third  race.' 

VII,  p.  191.  Dangerous  politicians — Alarm  of  the  State— Prayers 
for  Caesar  —  The    great    rivals  —  A  summary — The  Christian 
doctrine  of  renunciation — '  The  slaves  of  Christ.' 

Pp.  105-196, 


HITHERTO  in  our  study  of  Persecution  we  have  dealt 
with  the  relations  of  the  Church  and  the  Empire  in 
their  broadest  outlines.  We  have  seen  that  perse- 
cution was  no  accident,  hut  the  necessary  resultant 
of  certain  main  principles  in  Christianity  itself,  which 
brought  the  new  faith  into  conflict  with  the  outer 
world.  We  have  also  noted  that  the  state  of  conflict 
was  continuous,  though  persecution  itself  was  inter- 
mittent. The  fires  of  popular  hatred  were  ever 
smouldering,  liable  at  any  moment  to  break  out  into 
sudden  flame.  A  modern  illustration  will  make  our 
meaning  clearer.  The  Jews  in  Eussia  are  not  always 
the  victims  of  persecution,  whether  by  the  mob  or 
the  police.  Periods,  long  or  short,  may  elapse  of 
comparative  security,  in  which  they  suffer  little  save 
the  curses  and  scowls  of  their  neighbours.  But  ever 
and  anon  the  fires  blaze.  So  with  the  early  Christians. 
They  lived  under  the  shadow  of  a  great  hate.  We 
purpose  in  the  present  chapter  to  examine  the  reasons 
for  this  hate.  We  shall  first  point  out  two  permanent 
causes  of  persecution  apart  from  all  political  or  social 
questions.  The  one  was  the  ill-will  of  the  Jews,  the 
other  the  superstition  of  the  heathen.  We  shall  then 
inquire  into  the  factors  in  the  life  or  thought  of  the 


108        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

Church  itself  which  brought  upon  it  the  suspicion 
and  hatred  of  the  world. 

One  caution  at  the  outset  may  not  be  needless. 
For  the  economy  of  space,  and  that  we  may  better 
grasp  the  broad  outlines  of  our  subject,  we  are  driven 
to  neglect,  to  some  extent,  the  notes  of  time.  But  the 
student  should  not  forget  that  persecution  stretched 
over  a  period  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  and 
that  during  this  period  there  were  many  changes  not 
only  in  the  Empire  and  other  outer  factors,  but  in 
the  life  of  the  Church.  Nevertheless  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  twentieth  century  the  period  forms  a 
unity  in  itself,  in  which  for  our  immediate  purpose  we 
may  neglect  without  great  loss  the  details  of  internal 
change  and  development. 

Judaism,1  in  spite  of  its  aggressive  monotheism, 
had  been  recognized  as  a  religio  licita  by  the  astute 
founder  of  the  Empire,  Julius  Caesar,  and  endowed 
by  himself  and  his  successors  with  many  privileges.2 
Tiberius 8  and  Claudius,  it  is  true,  made  efforts  to 
check  the  growth  of  the  Jews  in  Eome  itself.  But 
the  attempt  came  too  late,4  and  ended  in  renewed 

1  For  the  Roman  treatment  of  Judaism  the  student  should  consult 
Mommsen  PEE  ii  160-231 ;  Schiirer  JPC  ii  (2)  ;  or  (concise)  Hardy 
o.c.  c.  2.     Gill  Notice  of  the  Jews  by  Classic  Writers  (2nd  ed.,  1872) 
will  be  found  of  service.    The  chief  sources  are  indicated  in  the  notes. 

2  See  the  lists  in  Joseph.  Ant.  xiv  10,  xvi  6. 

8  Tac.  Ann.  ii  85  ;  Suet.  Tib.  36 ;  Joseph.  Ant.  xviii  3,  5. 

4  Whether  the  expulsion  of  the  Jews  from  Rome  (Acts  xviii  2) 
was  ever  carried  out  is  uncertain.  According  to  Dio.  Cass.  Ix  6,  only 
their  assemblies  were  prohibited,  the  expulsion  proving  impossible. 
The  date  is  uncertain,  about  50.  See  Schurer  JPC  ii  (2)  236-7  ; 
DB  s.v.  Claudius ;  DB  v  98 ;  Harnack  EC  i  6,  n. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  109 

and  enlarged  liberties.  Not  the  least  were  the  rights 
of  civil  jurisdiction  over  their  own,  especially  in  the 
East,  constituting  the  Jews,  as  in  the  Middle  Ages,  a 
state  within  the  State.1  With  some  reason  the  Jews 
claimed  to  be  'the  second  race'  in  the  Empire.2  They 
alone,  in  spite  of  the  outcries  of  literary  swash- 
bucklers and  more  sober  historians,3  were  exempt  from 
offering  sacrifices  to  the  fortunes  of  Caesar  and  Eome,4 
nor  were  they,  as  the  conquered  tribes,  under  the 
obligation  of  military  service.5  To  these  franchises 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  made  no  difference ;  if 
anything,  the  loss  of  a  local  centre  of  intense  nation- 
alism and  possible  danger  made  concession  the 
more  easy. 

The  reader  should  beware  lest  he  allow  the  fall  of 
Jerusalem  (Sept.,  70)  to  lead  him  astray.  Long 
before  the  Christian  era  the  great  centres  of  the 
Jewish  race  lay  outside  Palestine ;  Alexandria  was 
of  more  importance  than  Jerusalem.  Judaism  in 

1  Cf.  their  constitution  at  Alexandria  described  from  Strabo  in 
Joseph.  Ant.  xiv  (7)  2.     See  also  Schurer  DB  v  103  6.     Origen  ad 
Afric.  14  (for  the  power  of  the  patriarch  in  third  century). 

2  See  infra  p.  190. 

•  Tac.  Hist .  v  5, '  non  regibus  haec  adulatio,  non  Caesaribus  honor.' 

*  Schurer   JPC  ii  (2)  265-6;  Joseph.  Ant.  xix  (5)  2-3.     The 
attempt  of  Caius  (A.D.  39)  to  enforce  it  was  never  repeated  (Joseph. 
Ant.  xviii  8 ;  BJ  ii  10 ;  Mommsen  PEE  ii  191-5).    Eelations  were 
often  amicable  between  the  two  faiths.      At  Akmonia  the  high 
priestess  of  Augustus  built  the  Jews  a  synagogue,  {perhaps  was  a 
Jewess  herself  (Kamsay  CBP  i  637-40,  649-50,  see  supra  p.  98  n.). 
At  Alexandria  they  put  '  inscriptions  in  honour  of  the  emperors '  in 
their  synagogues  (Philo  in  Flaccum  7,  ad  Qaium  20). 

6  Schurer  JPO  ii  (2)  264.  See  Joseph.  Ant.  xiv  (10)  11-13, 16, 19, 
25,  for  examples. 


110        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

fact,  under  pressure  from  without,  had  slowly  moulded 
itself  into  a  non-sacrificial,  non-sacerdotal  religion, 
the  bonds  of  which  with  the  centre  of  the  faith  were 
rather  sentimental  than  real.  The  synagogue  and 
its  ministry  had  become  of  more  importance  than 
the  priest.  The  destruction  of  Jerusalem  was  the 
overthrow  of  a  local  sacrificial  system,  not  the 
impairing  of  the  real  influence  or  spiritual  vitality  of 
Judaism.1  The  power  of  the  Dispersion,  great  before, 
was  even  increased  by  the  abandonment  of  a  centre 
whose  intense  and  scornful  conservatism  had  grown 
out  of  touch  with  the  more  progressive  emigrant 
communities.  We  might  even  claim,  without  ex- 
aggeration, that  the  chief  effect  of  the  destruction  of 
the  Temple  was  the  destruction  not  of  Judaism,  but 
of  Jewish  Christianity,  the  faith,  that  is,  of  St.  James 
and  the  Church  at  Pella.  Its  influence  on  Judaism 
at  large  was  not  great :  the  substitution  of  a  patriarch 
at  Tiberias  for  the  high-priest,  of  the  schools  of 
the  rabbis  for  the  struggling  cliques  at  Jerusalem. 
Politically  its  effects  were  still  less.  In  spite  of 
growing  hatred  on  the  one  side,  and  growing  exclu- 
siveness 2  on  the  other,  the  Jewish  religion  continued 
to  be  privileged  by  the  State,  the  Jews  paying  to  the 
temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus  the  two  drachmae  a 
head  which  they  had  hitherto  paid  to  Jerusalem.8 

1  Mommsen  PEE  ii  216-20,  followed  by  Hardy  o.c.  31,  considers 
that  the  Jews  now  ceased  to  be  a  privileged  nation,  and  became  only 
a  'religio  licita.'    Against  this  see  Schiirer  DB  v  102  (6),  n.;  and 
especially  Harnack  EG  i  346-9. 

2  On  this  see  Moram.  PEE  ii  207,  230-1. 

*  Joseph.  BJvli  (6)  6;  Suet,  Dom.  12;  Orig.  ad  Afrio.  14;  Dio. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  111 

The  Jews  were  too  invaluable  for  the  finances  of  an 
Empire,  impoverished  by  the  excesses  of  Nero,  to 
allow  the  Flavians  and  Antonines  to  yield  to  the 
outcries  of  the  mob,  or  the  scorn  of  their  Juvenals. 

The  hatred  felt  for  the  Jews  by  the  people  at 
large,  and  the  protection  afforded  them  by  the  rulers 
for  reasons  of  self-interest,  form  two  of  the  most  per- 
manent features  of  history,  as  true  in  the  first  century 
as  in  the  England  of  Henry  II.  Tales  innumerable 
were  told  against  them,  full  of  poison  and  malice, 
but  eagerly  believed  by  all  classes  of  society.  They 
had  been  expelled  from  Egypt  because  of  their 
leprosy.  In  their  Holy  of  Holies  was  found  an  ass's 
head,  a  memorial,  says  Tacitus,  of  the  salvation 
wrought  for  them,  when  dying  of  thirst  in  the  wilder- 
ness, by  a  herd  of  wild  asses  who  led  them  to  the 
springs.  Plutarch,  however,  rejects  this  idea ;  he  is 
convinced  that  the  Jews  abstained  from  swine's  flesh, 
because  the  pig  was  their  god.  After  this  we  need 
not  wonder  that  Juvenal  sneers  at  the  land  where 
hogs  never  die  except  as  the  result  of  ripe  old  age, 
for  swine's  flesh  is  more  precious  there  than  human 
beings.1  But  what  can  you  expect,  men  argued,  from 

Cass.  Ixvi  7.  The  more  offensive  features  of  the  tax  were  relaxed  by 
Nerva  (Schiirer  JPG  ii  (2)  267,  n.  See  also  Mommsen  PEE  ii  217 , 
Lightf.  Ign.  i  11,  n. ;  Henderson  Nero  348  ff.).  The  heathen  Caecilius 
(Mimic.  Felix  Oct.  8)  speaks  of  the  Jews  as  '  in  bondage  to  the  deities 
of  Kome.'  The  drawing  away  of  money  to  Jerusalem  to  pay  the  old 
Temple  tax  had  always  been  a  grievance  with  the  Gentiles  (Schiirer 
JPG  ii  (2)  261;  cf.  Cicero  Pro  Flacco  28;  Joseph.  Antiq.  xvi  (6) 
4-7). 

1  See  Tac.  Hist,  v  2-5 ;  Joseph.  Ap.  ii  7 ;  Plutarch  Symp.  iv  5 ; 
Juvenal  Sat.  vi  160,  xiv  96-106  (with  the  parallel  passages  in  the 


112        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EAELY  CHURCH 

a  people  who  spend  every  seventh  day  in  idleness, 
who  despise  Eoman  law  and  customs,  who  teach  that 
they  are  never  to  point  out  the  way  except  to  those 
of  their  own  faith,  nor  show  the  thirsty  where  to  find 
a  well,  unless  he  is  circumcised.  At  Alexandria,  two 
of  whose  five  districts  were  in  the  possession  of  the 
Jews,  it  was  believed  that  they  annually  offered  a 
Greek  in  sacrifice.1  Had  it  not  been  for  the  protection 
of  the  Eoman  officials,  the  Jews  would  have  fared 
badly  at  the  hands  of  the  people.  The  police,  it  is 
true,  generally  came  to  their  rescue,  from  motives  of 
policy.  But  the  real  feeling  of  the  Eomans  was  one 
of  utter  contempt.  '  0  Marcomanni,  0  Quadi,  0 
Sarmatians/  cried  Marcus  Aurelius,  on  the  com- 
pletion of  his  journey  through  Palestine,  '  at  last  I 
have  found  a  race  more  lazy  than  you.' a  Every  now 
and  then,  in  spite  of  the  police,  the  mob  got  the 
upper  hand,  slaughtered  the  Jews  and  burnt  their 
houses.3  Of  this  hatred,  at  any  rate  in  the  earliest 
days,  the  Christians  were  the  lineal  heirs.  But  in 
their  case  the  Eoman  protection  was  withdrawn. 

edition  of  Pearson  and  Strong);  Schiirer  JPO  ii  (2)  293-7.  Tert. 
Apol.  16,  ad  Nat.  i  11,  points  out  that  the  tale  of  Tacitus  was  the 
origin  of  the  similar  idea  of  the  Christian's  worship  of  a  crucified  ass. 
For  a  copy  of  the  well-known  graffito  of  *  Alexamenos  worships  his 
god '  (a  crucified  ass)  see  Duruy  HR  vi  211  and  cf.  Orig.  Ceh.  vi.  30. 

1  Joseph.  Ap.  ii  8. 

2  Amm.  Marcell.  xxii  5.    For  Roman  contempt  of  the  Jews,  see 
Harnack  EG  i  337,  n. 

3  Cf.  the  massacre  at  Caesarea  (Aug.  6,  66),  Jos.  BJ  ii  18 ;  the 
slaughter  of  ten  to  eighteen  thousand  Jews  at  Damascus,  t'6.  BJ 
ii  (20)  2 ;  vii  (8)  7.     A  case  like  that  of  Sardis  guaranteeing  the 
privilege  of  the  Jews  by  popular  resolution,  is  rare ;  Joseph.  Ant.  xiv 
(10)  24. 


THE   CAUSES  OF  HATRED  113 

Even  more  important  was  the  hatred  of  the  Jews 
for  the  Christians.  As  the  synagogues,  in  the  phrase 
of  Tertullian,1  were  '  the  sources  of  persecution,'  it  is 
important  that  we  should  realize  the  extent  of  the 
Jewish  Dispersion.2  There  were  Jews  in  nearly  every 
province  of  the  Empire ;  but  their  numbers  were 
greatest  in  Syria,  Egypt,  and  Asia  Minor.  In  Egypt, 
according  to  Philo,  they  totalled  a  million,  or  nearly 
one-sixth  of  the  whole,  figures  presumably  taken 
from  the  registers  of  taxation  kept  in  that  country.3 
In  Alexandria,  where  they  governed  themselves  by 
means  of  a  council  (gerusia)  and  archons,4  they 
occupied  at  one  time  two  out  of  the  five  quarters  of  a 
city  of  half  a  million  inhabitants.  In  Syria,  especially 
Antioch  and  Asia  Minor,  their  numbers,  though  not 
the  percentage,  were  even  greater.  '  The  Jews/  said 
Philo,  '  abound  in  every  city  of  Asia  and  Syria.'  Such 
was  their  influence  at  Apamea  that  at  the  beginning 
of  the  third  century  coins  were  struck  by  the  city 
authorities  with  a  figure  and  legend  of  Noah  and  his 
wife  descending  from  the  ark.5  In  Home,  whence 
Tiberius 6  transported  four  thousand  able-bodied  males 

1  Infra  p.  119,  n. 

2  For  the  Dispersion  (Diaspora)  and  its  extent  see  Schiirer  JPC  ii 
(2)  220-42,  or  his  article  in  DB  v  91  if.    Eamsay  Expos.  Jan.  1902, 
GBP  c.  15;  Harnack  EC  i  c.  1;   Mommsen  PEE  ii  162  ff.     The 
sources,  chiefly  Philo  (Le gatio  ad  Gaium  andtn.F7aceum,ed.  Mangey), 
Josephus,  and  inscriptions,  are  given  in  Schiirer  DB. 

3  Mommsen  PBE  ii  258 ;  Harnack  EG  i  8,  n. 

4  Schiirer  in  DB  v  99,  1006,    (Of.  Tert.  de  Cor.  9.)    They  lost  one 
of  their  wards  in  the  time  of  Claudius  (Momm.  PBE  ii  200,  n.). 

5  Eamsay  GBP  i  670. 

6  Harnack  EO  i  5,  n.,  for  a  discussion  of  this  matter. 

I 


114        PERSECUTION  IN   THE   EARLY  CHURCH 

to  Sardinia  (A.D.  19),  they  would  number  in  the  days 
of  Claudius  between  ten  and  fifteen  thousand  in  a  city 
of  a  million.  Here  they  were  not  organized  into  one 
great  corporation  as  at  Alexandria,  but  into  a  number 
of  small  private  societies.1  Altogether  the  Jews 
formed  seven  per  cent,  of  the  total  population  of  the 
Empire,  or  at  the  least  computation  between  four 
and  five  millions  in  all.  Not  without  justice  could 
Seneca  complain : 

4  The  customs  of  this  notorious  people  have  already  come  into  such 
vogue  that  they  have  been  introduced  into  every  land ;  the  conquered 
have  given  laws  to  the  conquerors.' 3 

Mere  numbers  formed  the  least  part  of  their 
influence.  In  some  respects,  though  without  a 
country,  capital,  or  centre  of  worship,8  the  Jews 
were  the  most  homogeneous  race  in  the  Empire ;  if 
the  most  scattered,  yet  the  most  united ;  in  the  real 
elements  of  culture,  second  only  to  the  Greeks ;  in 
wealth,  then  as  now,  the  bankers  of  the  world; 
strongest  of  all  because  of  the  rigid  exclusiveness  of 
their  religion,4  a  weapon  more  potent  to  guard  their 
race  than  fortified  frontiers.  Nor  must  we  under- 
rate their  social  influence.  In  spite  of  the  popular 
hatred,  Judaism,  owing  to  the  decay  of  the  old  heathen 
faiths  and  the  fascination  of  the  Eastern  cults,  had 
attracted  to  itself  proselytes  and  semi-proselytes  in 

1  Schurer  DB  v  100. 

2  Seneca  de  Super  stit.  in  Augustine  Civ.  Dei.  vi  11.     For  the 
population  of  the  Empire  see  infra  Appendix  F  (I). 

*  Tert.  Apol  21  exaggerates  this  and  its  importance. 

*  See  the  passages  from  the  Mishna  in  Milinan  HJ  ii  460-1. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATEED         115 

every  land.  These  were  not  the  less  influential 
because  both  in  motives  and  character  they  were 
curiously  mixed,  the  eunuch  of  the  Candace  dynasty 
of  Ethiopia  side  by  side  with  the  Empress  Poppaea.1 
In  Home  Judaism  became  at  one  time  a  fashionable 
form  of  dilettanteism,2  circumcision  included,  until 
this  last  was  stopped  by  the  edicts  of  Hadrian  and 
Septimius  Severus.3  Nor  was  their  power  the  less 
because  it  was  massed  in  crowded  ghettoes.  Then, 
as  now,  the  Jews  refused  to  settle  in  the  country. 
But  Christianity  also,  whether  because  it  originally 
grew  up  under  the  shadow  of  the  synagogue,  from  its 
Hellenic  affinities,  its  lack  of  native  missionaries,  or 
other  causes,  was  also  at  this  period  a  town  religion, 
which  as  yet  had  made  little  impression  on  the 
rural  districts.  Jews  and  Christians  faced  each 
other  in  the  same  cities,  severed  by  a  hatred  that 
daily  grew  more  intense.  Not  the  least  element  in 
the  persecution  of  the  Christians  would  be  the  serious 
economic  consequences  which  the  Jews  were  able  to 
inflict,  especially  upon  those  of  their  number  who 
joined  the  Church. 

The  hatred,  in  the  second  century  and  afterwards, 
was  not  on  the  side  of  the  Jew  only.  An  intense 
hostility  to  everything  Jewish  is  one  of  the  marks  of 

1  Supra  p.  57  n.  3.    For  the  influence  of  Jews  at  the  Koman  court, 
see  Schiirer  JPO  ii  (2)  239,  n. 

2  Cf.  Horace  Sat.  ix;  Sehurer  JPO  ii  (2)  304-11.     The  fashion 
ceased  after  Hadrian's  edicts. 

3  Spartian  Had.  14 ;  Sept.  Sev.  17 ;  Paulus  Sent,  v  22,  3,  4.     The 
penalty  for  circumcising  a  non-Jew  was  death   (Orig.  Gels,  ii   13, 
ambiguous),  or  castration  (Modestinus  in  Dig.  xlviii  8,  11). 


116        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

early  Christian  literature,  most  strongly  emphasized 
perhaps  in  orthodox  writings,  in  the  Epistle  of 
Barnabas.1  In  this  work,  probably  a  picture  of  the 
intense  antagonisms  at  Alexandria,  the  writer  claims 
that  all  Jewish  ceremonies  are  of  the  devil.  Con- 
fronted with  the  difficulty  what  to  make  in  this  case 
of  the  Old  Testament,  he  and  his  school  boldly 
twisted  it  into  a  merely  allegorical  or  spiritual 
narrative,  which  the  Jews  had  misunderstood  from 

1  The  date  of  the  Ep.  Barnabas  is  very  doubtful.  The  question 
turns  on  the  reckoning  of  the  two  emperors,  &c.,  in  ib.  iv  4.  Lightfoot 
dates  under  the  Flavians  (Clem,  i  5) ;  probably  Vespasian  (ib.  ii  509). 
So  also  with  certain  modifications,  Ramsay  ChE  308-9 ;  Milligan  in 
DCS ;  Bartlet  Apostolic  Age  521,  &c.  But  if  so,  it  is  difficult  to 
harmonize  its  tendency  with  the  tendency  in  the  Ep.  Hebrews  (also 
Alexandrian),  unless  indeed  they  were  expressions  of  two  schools  in 
Christianity  already  contradictory,  and  existing  in  the  same  town. 
Bartlet  o.c.  378,  gets  over  this  by  taking  Barnabas  to  be  "  Syrian 
Christianity."  Harnack  CAL  i  411  dates  as  just  before  Bar-kokheba 
(c.  130).  On  the  whole  I  incline  to  the  later  date. 

The  student  of  the  mutual  hatred  of  Jew  and  Christian  in  the 
second  century,  a  subject  of  great  importance  in  our  theme,  will  find 
material  in  the  following  references : — Ep.  Barn,  ix  4,iv  6  f.,xiv  1  f. ; 
Ep.  Diognetus  1,  3,  4  ('  the  common  silliness  and  error  of  the  Jews, 
and  their  excessive  fussiness  and  pride');  Justin  Martyr  Dial  c. 
Trypho  16,  17,  25,  30,  46;  I.  Apol.  47;  Kerugma  Pttri  (in  Clem. 
Strom,  vi  5) ;  Pseudo-Clement  Romanus  Ancient  Homily  2, '  those  who 
seemed  to  have  God ' ;  St.  John  Gospel ;  use  of  'louScuot,  *  the  Jews,' 
passim  (end  of  first  century).  See  also  the  note  on  "  Pilate,"  supra, 
p.  20,  and  other  references  in  the  notes  of  this  chapter,  espec.  p.  119,  n. 
For  a  second-century  Western  orthodox  document,  Aristides  Apol.  14 
(ed.  Harris  TS  (i)  13.  For  date  see  Appendix  G),  in  its  friendliness 
to  Jews  is  an  exception.  The  first  century  (possibly  Syrian)  "  Two 
Ways  "  (the  older  part  of  the  Didache),  shows  many  affinities  with  Ep. 
J:imes;  so  also  Hennas  Shepherd  in  a  still  more  exaggerated  fashion 
(Lightf.  Clem,  i  9;  Gal  339-40).  From  these  two  writings  we  may 
expect  sympathy  with  the  Jews.  So  also  from  the  Test.  xii.  Patriarchs 
infra  p.  122  n.  3). 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  117 

the  first.  Others  went  further  and  maintained  that 
the  Old  Testament  from  cover  to  cover  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  Jews,  who  were  but  a  synagogue  of 
Satan.  The  heresy  of  Marcion,  with  its  repudiation 
of  the  Old  Testament  along  with  Judaism,  was  but 
the  logical  expression  of  a  widespread  belief,  of  a 
hatred  almost  without  parallel  in  history.  From  this 
heresy  the  Church  was  saved,  not  so  much  by  the 
logic  of  its  leaders — for  the  theology  into  which  they 
were  driven,  to  the  twentieth  century  must  seem 
more  than  questionable — as  by  its  sense  of  historic 
spiritual  continuity,  that  '  rock  '  upon  which  so  much 
that  is  more  valuable  than  logic  is  founded.1  Men 
realized  that  it  was  better  to  attempt,  with  St.  Paul, 
to  throw  a  bridge  between  the  two,  than,  with  Marcion 
of  Pontus,  to  leave  Christianity  without  historic  (i.e. 
Jewish)  foundations  and  supports.  Even  Tertullian, 
much  as  he  detested  Judaism,  dreaded  even  more 
'  the  Pontic  mouse  who  nibbled  away  the  Gospels.' 2 

The  hatred  of  Jew  and  Christian  was  the  more 
bitter  inasmuch  as  it  thus  partook  of  the  nature  of  a 

1  'The  gates  of  death  (Hades)  shall    not  prevail    against  it' 
(Matt,  xvi  18,  the  locus  classicm  of  spiritual  continuity). 

2  In  Marcion  i  1.    Marcion  was  not  alone.    "What,  for  instance, 
could  more  strike  at  much  of  St.  Paul's  theology  of  the  Atonement 
than  the  following  extract  from  the  Ep.  Diognetus  (on  which  see 
infra  p.  168  n.)?— 'The  Jews  ...  so  far  as  they  offer  God  this 
worship  in  methods  similar  to  those  already  mentioned,  are  altogether 
at  fault.  .  .  .  Those  who  think  to  perform  sacrifices  to  God  with 
blood  and  fat  and  whole  burnt-offerings,  and  to  honour  Him  with 
such  honours,  seem  to  me  in  nowise  different  from  those  who  show 
the  same  respect  towards  deaf  images ;  for  the  one  class  think  fit  to 
make  offerings  to  things  unable  to  participate  in  the  honour,  the 
other  class  to  One  who  is  in  need  of  nothing*  (Ep.  Diog.  o.  3). 


118        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

family  quarrel.  As  such  it  seems  at  first  to  have  been 
regarded  by  the  Eomans,  with  a  consequent  indiffer- 
ence on  their  part  to  the  real  meaning  of  Christianity. 
This  official  indifference,  of  which  we  have  many 
illustrations  in  the  Acts,1  only  stirred  up  the  Jews 
the  more  vehemently  to  make  the  distinction  between 
themselves  and  the  Christians  clear  to  their  rulers. 
We  have  seen  how  the  great  fire  of  64  gave  them 
their  opportunity.  They  succeeded  once  for  all  in 
convincing  the  police,  who,  according  to  a  possible 
interpretation  of  a  passage  in  Suetonius,2  had  hitherto 
been  in  doubt  on  the  subject,  that  the  Christians  were 
not  members  of  the  synagogues,  and  therefore  not 
entitled  to  the  political  and  religious  franchises  which 
enrolled  members  of  the  synagogues  received.  This 
distinction  secured,  the  Jews  lost  no  occasion  of 
arousing  against  the  Christians  the  political  dread 
of  the  bureaucracy.  The  fall  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
later  troubles  of  Judaism  only  added  fresh  fuel  to  the 
Jewish  hatred.  Said  Justin  Martyr,  '  The  Jews  treat 
us  as  open  enemies,  putting  us  to  death  and  torturing 
us,  just  as  you  heathens  do,  whenever  they  can.'3 
Justin  was  speaking  of  the  cruelty  of  the  Jews  to  the 
Christians  during  '  their  late  war  under  Barcochba.' 
As  a  rule  they  were  driven  to  more  secret  methods, 
the  stirring  up  of  the  heathen  mob,  the  scattering 
broadcast  of  horrible  charges  as  to  the  Christians 

1  xxi  31,  xviii  14-15,  xxv  19. 

2  Suet.  Claud.  25.     But  see  infra  Appendix  D  (a). 

*  I  Apol.  31.    Cf.  Ep.  Diognetus  5, '  war  is  waged  against  them  as 
aliens  by  the  Jews.'     Cf.  Graetz  Hist.  Jews  ii  415. 


THE  CAUSES  OF   HATRED  119 

and  their  Saviour.  In  all  persecutions,  at  any  rate  in 
Asia,  we  may  detect  the  Jew  in  the  background.  We 
have  illustrations  of  this  in  the  cases  of  Polycarp  and 
Pionius.1  To  the  Jew  also  the  Eoman  governor  was 
generally  indebted  for  the  distorted  impression  he 
formed  of  the  religion  of  the  prisoner  before  him. 
Said  the  prefect  Epolius  to  Conon,  an  old  gardener 
upon  an  imperial  estate  in  Pamphylia,  of  whom  we 
shall  hear  again : 

4  Why  are  you  such  a  fool  as  to  call  a  man  God,  and  that,  too, 
one  who  died  a  violent  death  ?  For  so  have  I  learnt  accurately  from 
the  Jews,  both  as  to  his  race  and  his  manifestations  to  their  nation, 
and  his  death  by  crucifixion.  They  brought  his  memoirs,  and  read 
them  out  to  me.  Leave  off  this  folly,  and  enjoy  life  along  with  us.' 2 

1  Infra  pp.  297, 309.    Of.  Acts  xvii  7,  xviii.     Tert.  Scorp.  10, '  Syna- 
gogas  Judaeorum  fontes  persecutionum.'      According  to  Christian 
writers,  the  Jews  were  the  authors  of  the  tales  that  the  Christians 
sacrificed  children,  &c.  (infra  p.  159).     So  Justin  Dial.  c.  Tryph.  10, 
16,  17, 108,  117.    Cf.  Tert.  ad.  Nat.  i  14,  ad.  Marc,  iii  23,  adv.  Jud. 
13.    This  is  even  more  emphatically  asserted  in  Orig.  Gels,  vi  27. 
The  Jews,  as  we  know  from  the  Mishna,  originated  the  scandals  con- 
cerning the  birth  of  Jesus  (Kenan ;  Evang.  189-90,  EC  263-4).     See 
also  case  of  Leo  of  Patara  infra  p.  162  n. 

Of  the  connexion  of  Jews  and  persecution  we  have  a  curious 
story  in  Hippolytus  (Philos.  ix  12).  He  states  that  Callistus,  before 
he  was  Pope  (218-22),  in  order  to  secure  martyrdom  (or,  as 
Hippolytus  puts  it,  to  avoid  his  creditors),  took  up  his  station  one 
Sabbath  before  a  synagogue  in  Home  and  derided  the  Jews.  For 
this  he  was  banished  to  Sardinia.  We  may  hope  that  in  this,  as 
in  other  things,  Callistus  was  an  exception,  if  not  misrepresented. 

2  Mart.  Cononis  in  Gebhardt  AMS  130 ;  time  of  Decius.    A  most 
interesting  and  genuine  narrative,  not  in  Buinart  AM.     The  genuine 
Acts  were  "  improved  "  by  a  later  age  to  suit  their  taste.      Conon 
shuts  up  devils  in  casks,  &o.    Harnack  CAL  ii  469,  while  recognizing 
a  genuine  kernel,  is  inclined  to  attribute  dependence  on  the  Acts  of 
Pionius  (see  infra  p.  297  n.).    He  detects  falsity  in  the  reference  to 


120        PERSECUTION  IN  THE   EARLY  CHURCH 

As  Eusebius  informs  us : 

'  Their  apostles,  conveying  formal  letters  .  .  .  (for  the  Jews  give 
the  name  of  "  apostle  "  to  those  who  convey  encyclical  epistles  from 
their  rulers)  swarmed  everywhere  on  earth,  calumniating  the  gospel 
of  our  Saviour ' 1 — 

spreading  abroad  also  infamous  tales  about  the 
Christians,  destined  in  later  ages  to  return  in  awful 
retribution  on  their  own  head.2 

The  hatred  of  the  Jews  was  especially  felt  by 
the  Jewish  Christians.  This  Church,  the  original 
Church  of  Christendom,  to  which  at  one  time  all  the 
apostles  belonged  with  the  exception  of  St.  Paul,  split 
up  even  during  the  lifetime  of  St.  James  into  two 
sections.  The  one  section,  led  by  St.  Peter  and  St. 
John,  recognized  the  logic  of  accomplished  facts,  and 
remembered  the  words  of  Jesus  concerning  the  guid- 
ance of  the  Spirit.  After  a  period  of  hesitation,  which 
filled  St.  Paul  with  indignation,  St.  Peter,  as  we  see 
from  his  Epistle,  and  as  his  death  at  Eome  conclu- 
sively proves,  ceased  to  be  a  "  Jewish  Christian,"  and 
became  one  with  the  Gentile  Church.  But  the  party, 
known  later  as  Nazarenes,  survived  his  defection. 
The  other  section,  at  a  later  date  called  the  Ebionites, 
refused  to  own  the  Gentile  Church  as  the  true  Church, 
and  after  doing  all  they  could  in  his  lifetime  to  thwart 

the  '  memoirs,'  i.e.  as  he  interprets  it  the  Ada  Pilati,  which  were 
not  brought  out  until  later  (supra  p.  21  n.).  But  the  reference  is 
not  necessarily  so  definite. 

1  Euseb.  on  Isaiah  xviii  1,  quoted  in  Schiirer  JPC  ii  (2)  269,  n.  ; 
or  Harnack  EC  ii  67,  n.  St.  Paul  was  thus  an  "  apostle  "  of  the 
Sanhedrim  before  he  became  an  'apostle  of  Jesus  Christ.'  See 
gupra  p.  33  n. 

8  £ee  Jewish  Encyc.  iii  B.V.  "  Blood  Accusation." 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATKED         121 

St.  Paul,  tried  to  discredit  his  memory  after  death.1 
With  a  fidelity  worthy  of  a  better  cause,  both  sections 
clung  to  their  Judaism,  even  after  the  destruction  of 
the  Temple  had  destroyed  their  basis  of  existence. 
So  they  fell  between  two  fires.  On  the  one  hand  they 
were  despised  by  the  Church.  Jerome,  who  knew 
them  well,  contemptuously  but  accurately  describes 
them  as  *  semi-Jews  *  and  '  semi-Christians.'  As 
such  the  Church  in  time  put  them  on  her  roll  of 
heretics;  an  astonishing  but  deserved  result  for  a 
Church,  undoubtedly  primitive  and  apostolic,  but 
which  refused  to  recognize  the  laws  of  growth  and 
development ;  in  other  words,  could  not  discern  the 
mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  On  the  other  hand  they 
were  pursued  with  especial  hatred ; 

'  not  merely  at  the  hands  of  Jewish  children,  but,  rising  at  dawn, 
at  noon,  at  eventide,  when  they  perform  their  orisons  in  the 
synagogues,  the  Jews  curse  them  and  anathematize  them,  saying, 
'•God  curse  the  Nazarenes."  .  .  .  They  are  Jews  more  than  any- 
thing else,  and  yet  they  are  detested  by  the  Jews.' 2 

So  this  band  of  irreconcileables  lingered  on,  first 
at  Pella,  then  afterwards  amid  the  ruins  of 
Jerusalem,8  until  driven  away  from  the  new  city  of 
Aelia  Capitolina,  founded  by  Hadrian  on  the  site 
of  the  Holy  City.  It  would  not  tend  to  peace  between 
the  two  branches  of  Christendom  that  while  no  Jew 

1  See  on  this  Hort.  Clementine  Recognitions  (1901),  pp.  114-132 ; 
Lightf.  Gal.  327-30. 

2  Epiphanius  Haer.  xxix  9. 

*  Ibid,  xxix  7 ;  Euseb.  HE  iii  32,  35,  iv  5  (this  last,  13  bishops 
in  about  as  many  years,  contains  some  error).  Very  few  returned 
from  Pella. 


122        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY   CHURCH 

was  allowed  to  approach  the  city  under  pain  of  death,1 
a  prohibition  which  Jewish  Christians,  we  imagine, 
would  apply  to  themselves,2  other  Christians,  Gentiles 
in  origin,  made  the  new  Jerusalem  the  seat  of  a 
bishopric  under  the  Gentile  Marcus.  As  with  other 
similar  movements  that  mark  arrested  development, 
these  Jewish  Christians  but  slowly  decayed.8  They 
still  survive,  it  would  seem,  in  Mesopotamia,  in  a 
hopelessly  corrupt  condition.4  Their  history,  for  the 
most  part  a  blank,  is  that  of  a  rudimentary  organ  in 
the  Church,  a  perpetual  warning  of  the  atrophy 
which  attends  unreasoning  subservience  to  the  dead 
hand.  Their  record — throughout  their  early  exist- 
ence under  the  control  of  '  the  relatives  of  our  Lord  '5 
— shows  the  value  of  the  decision  of  St.  Paul,  that 
henceforth  he  would  not  know  Christ  after  the 
flesh  (II  Cor.  v  16). 

1  Justin  I  Apol.  47 ;  Tert.  in  Jud.  13 ;  Aristionof  Fella  in  Euseb. 
HE  iv  6.    The  image  of  a  pig  was  placed  over  the  Bethlehem  gate. 

2  Milman  HJ  ii  438  is  ambiguous.     If  the  Jewish  Christians  had 
entered  Aelia  they  would  have  ceased  to  be  Jews.   The  list  of  bishops 
(Euseb.  HEiv  6,  v  12)  shows  henceforth  nothing  but  Qraeco-Roman 
names.    On  this  list  see  Harnack  GAL  i  220  ff.    Zahn  FQK  vi  282. 

3  According  to  Epiphanius,  I.e.,  their  strongholds  were  Pella  in 
Ferea,  Kochaba  in  Basanitis,  and  in  Beroea.     On  these  places  see 
Harnack  EC  ii  253,  n.    But  the  Ebionites  were  more  widely  scattered. 
The  Church  of  Pella  produced  one  author,  Aristion  (Euseb.  HE  iv  6, 
Harnack  GAL  i  268,  Drummond  FG 198  ff).    Another  Jewish  Christian 
was  Hegesippus,  on  whom  see  Lightf .  Gal.  332-4,  or  better,  Hort.  Jud 
Christianity  164-74.     Their  most  characteristic  document  (second 
century)  is  the  Test,  of  xii.  Patriarchs  (ed.  Sinker,  Camb.  1869),  on 
which  see  Renan  EG  268-70;  Lightf.  Gal  319-21. 

*  Encyc.  Brit.  s.v.  Mandaeans. 

*  SeoWcrwj/oi ;  a  curious  title. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  123 

But  whatever  their  record  theologically,  the 
'  relatives '  of  Jesus  did  not  shrink  from  suffering  for 
their  faith.  The  death  of  St.  James,  their  leader,  was 
for  them  the  beginning  of  persecution.  Eusebius 
tells  us  that  '  after  the  martyrdom  of  St.  James '  the 
disciples  at  Jerusalem,  led  by  '  those  related  to  our 
Lord,'  elected  '  His  paternal  uncle's  son,  Symeon  the 
son  of  Clopas,1  the  cousin-german  of  Jesus,'  to  be  the 
second  bishop.  A  few  years  later  Vespasian  '  com- 
manded all  of  the  family  of  David  to  be  sought  after, 
that  no  one  might  be  left  among  the  Jews  of  the 
royal  stock.'2  Symeon  and  his  brethren  survived 
this  persecution,  evidently  political  rather  than 
religious  in  character.  We  may  find  the  reason  in  a 
story,  told  at  a  later  date,  of  two  grandsons  of  St. 
Jude,  the  brother  of  Jesus.  Domitian,  for  reasons 
similar  to  those  of  his  father  Vespasian,  had  renewed 
the  persecution  of  *  the  descendants  of  David.' 
Whereupon  '  the  heretics  accused  the  grandsons  of 
Jude.'  When  they  were  brought  before  the  emperor, 

'Domitian  demanded  whether  they  were  of  the  stock  of  David? 
This  being  confessed,  he  asked  again :  What  possession  and  what 
Bubstance  they  had.  They  answered  that  they  had  no  more  between 
them  but  nine  and  thirty  acres  of  land,  and  that  they  sustained  their 
families  by  their  own  labour ;  showing  forth  their  hands  to  the 
emperor,  being  hard  and  rough,  and  worn  with  labours,  to  witness 
that  the  words  they  had  spoken  were  true.  ...  So  Domitian,  despising 
them  as  vile  persons,  let  them  go.' 3 

1  On  the  identification  of  Clopas  and  Alphaeus  and  the  relation  to 
Jesus,  see  Lightf.  Gal  266-7. 

8  Euseb.  HE  iii  11,  12.  Euseb.  is  probably  quoting  from  Julius 
Africanus,  who  was  a  native  of  Emmaus.  See  De  Boor  in  TU  iv  (2) 
169  and  Harnack  CAL  ii  89  ff. 

*  Euseb.  HE  iii  20,  from  Hegesippus,     I  see  no  reason  to  suppose 


124        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

After  this  release  'they  ruled  the  Church  as 
witnesses  (ndprvpsg)  and  as  relatives  of  the  Lord.' 
But  at  a  later  date  Symeon,  if  we  may  trust 
Hegesippus,1  was  crucified  as  a  Christian  '  after  he 
had  been  tortured  for  several  days.' 

The  last  relative  of  Jesus  of  whom  we  have  know- 
ledge died  as  a  martyr,  probably  under  Decius,  on  the 
accusation,  as  it  would  appear,  of  the  Jews.  Conon, 
the  gardener  of  Magydus,  on  being  asked  by  the 
governor  Epolius  the  usual  preliminary  questions, 
declared : 

"  I  came  from  the  town  of  Nazareth  in  Galilee,  and  am  a  kinsman 
of  Christ."  "  If  you  know  Christ,"  replied  the  tyrant, "know  our  gods 
also.  Be  persuaded  by  me  and,  by  all  the  gods,  you  shall  gain  great 
honours.  I  don't  eay  *  Sacrifice,'  or  anything  of  that  sort.  It  will 
be  enough  to  take  a  pinch  of  incense,  a  drop  of  wine  and  an  olive 
branch,  and  say :  '  Most  sovereign  Zeus,  save  this  multitude ! '" 2 

But  Conon  was  true  to  his  royal  lineage,  one  only  of 
many  hundreds  of  Christians  throughout  the  Empire 
who  suffered  death  by  reason  of  the  hatred  of  the 
Jews. 

with  Allard  I  HP  129  that  in  consequence  of  thia  incident  Domitian 
ceased  his  persecution  of  the  Church.  Considering  its  source,  the 
story  itself  is  not  above  suspicion. 

1  Euscb.  HE  iii  32.     The  statement  of  Hegesippus  *  that  he 
suffered  as  a  martyr  when  he  was  an  hundred  and  twenty  years  old, 
in  the  reign  of  Trajan,'  is  absurd.     (N.B.  'torture  for  several  days.') 
But  I  should  not  doubt  his  martyrdom  under  Trajan,  probably  A.D. 
104,  as  Hegesippus  (who  states  that  his  death  took  place  in  the 
Syrian  proconsulship  of  Atticus,  i.e.  Sextius  Attius;  see  Harnack 
CAL  i  129)  would  on  this  be  correct. 

2  Gebhardt  AMS  130-1.    See  supra  p.  119  n. 


THE  CAUSES   OF  HATRED  125 


II 

Not  less  universal  as  a  factor  in  the  persecution 
of  the  Christians  was  the  superstition  of  the  heathen. 
This  affected  the  Church  in  two  ways ;  the  one 
familiar  to  us  from  frequent  references  in  the  apolo- 
gists ;  the  other  closely  connected  with  the  first,  the 
widespread  belief  in  the  practice  by  the  Christians 
of  the  magic  arts.  But  upon  this  second  the  Christian 
apologists  do  not  dwell. 

For  their  old  religion,  in  the  higher  sense  of  the 
word,  the  Romans  in  the  second  century  had  little 
concern.  They  sought  the  satisfaction  of  their 
spiritual  longings  in  devotion  to  some  exotic  cult,  or 
in  the  pursuit  of  the  Stoic  and  Platonic  philosophies. 
But  the  governing  classes  still  attached  importance 
to  religion  as  a  branch  of  the  civil  service  primarily 
concerned  with  the  safety  of  the  State.  "Its  ob- 
servance was  the  duty  of  every  citizen,  and  was 
even  a  more  necessary  part  of  patriotism  than 
service  in  the  army,  because  the  sin  of  a  single 
recusant  might  call  down  the  anger  of  the  neglected 
gods  on  the  whole  state.  1  This  last  in  fact  was  the 
very  thing  that  in  the  judgement  of  popular  super- 
stition occurred.  Flood,  earthquake,  and  pestilence 
were  all  of  them  traced  to  the  offended  gods,  who  had 
thus  visited  upon  the  people  the  neglect  and  sacrilege 
of  the  Christians.  '  If/  writes  Tertullian, 

« the  Tiber  floods  the  City,  or  the  Nile  refuses  to  rise,  or  the  sky 
1  Hardy  o.c.  4. 


126        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

withholds  its  rain,  if  there  is  an  earthquake,  famine,  or  pestilence,  at 
once  the  cry  is  raised  :  Christians  to  the  lions.' 1 

In  North  Africa  the  practice  passed  into  a  proverb  : 
*  If  there  is  no  rain,  lay  the  blame  on  the  Christians.' 2 
The  superstition  of  the  heathen  further  charged 
the  Christians  with  the  practice  of  magic  arts.  In 
this  matter  it  is  important  that  we  should  be  fair. 
The  blame  must  not  be  thrown  altogether  upon  the 
heathen.  Throughout  the  Empire  the  Jews  were 
known  as  exorcists.3  The  belief  in  the  magic  of 
Solomon  is  no  invention  of  the  Arabian  Nights ;  we 
find  it  well  established  in  the  days  of  Josephus.4 
The  Christians  probably  believed  in  magic  every 
whit  as  heartily  as  the  heathen  ;  nor  would  they  have 
been  backward  in  claiming  for  their  leaders  the 
possession  of  supernatural  powers.  The  diffidence  in 
this  matter  of  a  Church  familiarized  with  the  argu- 
ments of  Hume  or  Huxley  never  dawned  upon 
them.  In  the  study  of  history  we  must  beware  above 

1  Tert.  Apol.  40,  ad  Nat.  9.    See  also  Arnob.  ad  Gent,  i  1,  2, 13-16, 
vii  38 ;  Cyprian  ad  Demetr.  2  and  passim  (Benson  Cyprian  249  ff.); 
Euseb.  HE  iv  13;  Clementine  Horn,  vii  9.     (That  these  last  two  are 
not  historical  does  not  lessen  their  evidence  in  this  connexion.)    The 
persecutor  Maximin  enlarges  on  this  (Euseb.  HE  is.  7).  Apologists  tried 
to  meet  the  argument  by  pointing  to  the  prosperity  of  the  Empire 
since  the  rise  of  Christianity,  and  that  it  was  the  bad  emperors, 
Nero,  &c.,  who  persecuted  Christianity  (Melito  in  Euseb.  HE  iv  26. 
See  also  infra  p.  208).    Also  a  greater  than  Melito,  Augustine,  whose 
City  of  God  is  designed  to  show  that  the  sack  of  Rome  (410)  was  not 
due  to  the  anger  of  the  abandoned  gods. 

2  Augustine  Civ.  Dei  ii  3.     See  also  infra  pp.  134,  136,  268  n. 
*  Acts  xix  13. 

4  Ant.  viii  2,  5,  where  Eleazer  draws  a  devil  through  a  demoniac's 
nose,  in  the  presence  of  Vespasian,  by  means  of  Solomon's  ring. 


THE  CAUSES  OF    HATRED  127 

all  of  mental  anachronism.  To  approach  the  subject 
of  the  charge  of  magic  with  modern  prepossessions 
is  fatal.1  In  fact,  the  charge  against  the  Christians 
of  using  the  black  arts  was  to  some  extent  the  result 
of  their  own  claims.  These  claims  we  may  explain 
as  we  will.  For  the  historian  explanation  or  lack 
of  explanation  is  immaterial.  For  him  a  belief,  how- 
ever erroneous,  if  widely  held,  is  a  factor  in  human 
life  and  progress  which  he  dare  not  ignore. 

In.  the  second  and  third  centuries  superstition  was, 
if  anything,  a  growing  force.  The  old  Latin  farmer 
was  superstitious  enough,  but  his  superstitions  were 
rather  nature-dreads,  fears,  such  as  ever  haunt  the 
illiterate,  of  the  vast  forces  of  the  world  around  him. 
These  he  tried  to  propitiateln  diverse  ways.  But  the 
later  Eoman,  for  whom  an  age  of  conquest  and  travel 
had  robbed  the  solitude  of  forest  and  sea  of  much  of 
their  awe,  had  fled  to  religions,  whose  mysticism,  such 
as  it  was,  was  largely  founded  upon  spiritual  horror. 
From  the  Emperor  on  the  throne  to  the  meanest 
slave,  men  trembled  at  the  awful  powers  of  the 
unknown,  and  trembled  the  more  because  of  their 
loss  of  religious  faith.3  They  peopled  the  heaven 

1  The  student  should  read  Harnack  EC  i  152-80,  Dill  RSNA  iy 
c.  1,  article  "  Demonology  "  in  DCS.     To  obtain  an  idea  of  what  was 
held  even  by  cultivated  pagans  he  should  read,  not  a  clear-headed 
sceptic  like  Lucian,  or -the  credulous  Apuleius,  but,  say,  Macrobius 
Saturnaliorum  bk.  vii  (ed.  Janus,  1848 ;  No  English  translation,  but 
one  in  French,  ed.  Nisard,  1850),  which  gives  us  what  passed  for  science, 
e.g.  o  14,  why   objects  are  bigger  under  water.     Other  important 
references  are  given  in  the  notes.    I  should  add  that  the  explanation 
of  miracles,  real  or  imaginary,  forms  no  part  of  my  plan. 

2  See  s.v.  *  magi'  in  the  index  to  Apuleius,  ed.  Hildebrand  (1842)? 
for  examples ;  Plutarch  de  Defectu  Oraculorum  14. 


128        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EABLY  CHURCH 

and  earth  with  a  host  of  demons — daemons  the 
philosophers  vainly  called  them — and  believed  with 
all  their  hearts  in  the  alliance  of  magicians  and 
sorcerers  with  the  hordes  of  the  black  one.  Dreams 
and  omens  haunted  high  and  low  alike.  We  see 
this  in  the  popular  treatise  on  their  interpretation 
published  at  the  close  of  the  second  century  by 
Artemidorus,  a  work  full  of  the  wildest  and  most 
superstitious  hallucinations.  The  curious  student 
who  turns  over  its  pages  will  find  "besotted  credulity 
disguising  itself  under  the  forms  of  scientific  inquiry." ] 
Spiritualism,  with  all  its  paraphernalia  of  table- 
rapping,  writing  by  invisible  hands,  clairvoyance, 
and  the  like,  became  the  fashion,  and  assisted  in 
seducing  Julian  the  Apostate  from  Christianity.2 
Sludge  the  Medium  has  his  prototype  in  Alexander 
of  Abonutichos,  or  the  earlier  Simon  Magus.8  For 
the  more  devout  there  were  the  mysteries  of  Isis  and 
Mithra,  with  their  beliefs  in  the  tyranny  of  the  stars 
over  human  lives.  From  his  youth  Tiberius  was  the 
slave  of  astrologists.  Domitian  lived  in  perpetual 
fear  of  the  fulfilment  of  Chaldean  prophecies,  while 


1  For  the  Oneirocritica  of  Artemidorus  (f  160)  a  sufficient  account 
will  be  found  in  Dill  ESN  A  467-71.     The  only  English  translation 
in  the  British  Museum  is  by  R.  Wood  (abbreviated).    In  1740  it 
reached  a  24th  edition,  a    fact  which  is  in  itself  a  light-giving 
comment  on  the  England  of  the  early  Wosleys. 

2  Allard  Julien  L'Apostat  (1903)  ii  217-9,  i  310-11. 

3  For  the  historical  character  of  Simon  Magus,  see  Hort.  JO  120-7, 
DB,  or    Salmon  in  DCB.    The  Clementine  literature  that  centres 
round  him  witnesses  to  the  belief  of  the  (heretical)  Early  Church  in 
the  reality  of  niagio.     For  Alexander  see  infra,  p.  135, 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  129 

Marcus  Aurelius  surrounded  himself  with  Egyptian 
magicians. 

In  their  belief  in  demons  and  other  supernatural 
agencies  the  Christians  were  not  before  their  age, 
save  in  their  grasp  of  the  supremacy  of  one  benign 
Father  of  good.  Behind  every  idol  statue,  however 
beautiful,  they  discerned  the  grinning  face  of  a  fiend. 
The  devil  and  his  angels  were  terrible  realities,  whose 
evil  machinations  were  only  thwarted  by  the  ceaseless 
vigilance  of  the  attendant  spirits  of  good.  As  in  the 
romance  of  Enoch,  archangels  and  demons  struggled 
for  the  soul  and  body,  nor  was  the  struggle  one-sided. 
For  the  demons  '  fill  the  atmosphere  which  extends 
between  earth  and  heaven.* l  Owing  to  their  speed 
they  are  almost  omniscient,  and  thus  '  attain  credit 
for  causing  that  which  they  announce/  For  the 
Christian  the  miraculous  was  so  common  that  it 
ceased  to  be  miraculous.  For  him,  as  for  the  pagan,  it 
formed'part  of  the  ordinary  machinery  of  the  universe. 
Illustrations  of  this  belief  are  almost  co-extensive 
with  the  literature  of  the  early  and  mediaeval  Church. 
Two  examples  must  suffice,  by  no  means  either 
extraordinary  or  peculiar.  St.  Augustine,  whom  no 
one  can  accuse  of  either  insincerity  or  stupidity, 

1  Cassian  Con/,  viii  12  (ed.  Petschenig.  CSEL).  Cf.  Tert.  Apol  22, 
'Every  spirit  is  winged  .  .  .  they  are  everywhere  in  a  moment.' 
For  the  ideas  of  devils  current  in  Christian  circles  in  the  fourth 
century  the  student  should  see  Cassian  Con/,  vii  9-25,  27,  viii  8; 
Augustine  Civ.  Dei  viii  14,  23  ff. ;  Ame'lineau  De  Historia  Lausiaca 
pp.  111-21.  For  the  third  century  see  Lactantius  Instit.  Div.  ii  15, 
17 ;  Tatian  Orat.  ad  Oraeoos  viii-xviii ;  Origen  (references  in  DCB 
iv  135),  The  ideas  current  among  heretics  were  more  extravagant 
still,  cf.  Iren.  Haer.  i  25  (3). 

S 


130        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

solemnly  asserts  that  in  his  own  diocese  of  Hippo, 
in  the  space  of  two  years  there  had  occurred  no  less 
than  seventy-two  miracles,  among  them  five  cases  of 
restoration  to  life.1 

The  works  of  Sulpicius  Severus  bear  the  marks 
of  a  cultured  mind  of  singular  sincerity.  His  Life  of 
St.  Martin  of  Tours,  one  of  the  gems  of  Christian 
biography,  is  the  record  of  an  eye-witness,  yet  marred 
with  the  grossest  tales  of  the  miraculous.  He  begins 
by  imploring  his  readers 

'  to  give  full  faith  to  my  statements,  and  not  to  believe  that  I 
have  written  any  thing  of  which  I  have  not  certain  knowledge  and  proof, 
for  I  should  have  preferred  to  have  kept  silence  rather  than  relate 
the  false.' 

'  Martin,'  he  claims  elsewhere,  '  does  not  need  to  be 
defended  by  untruths.'  Yet  in  one  place  he  tells  us 
how  St.  Martin  restored  three  dead  men  to  life,  and 
twits  Egyptian  monks,  for  whom  otherwise  he  has 
a  profound  reverence,  with  their  inability  to  perform 
this  feat.2 

With  this  brief  statement  of  the  Christian  position, 
a  matter  which  might  well  claim  a  volume  for  its 
adequate  exposition,  the  reader  will  the  better  under- 
stand how  the  heathen  came  to  associate  their  name 
with  the  black  arts.  So  far  as  demons  were  con- 
cerned, the  Church  professed  that  it  was  part  of  its 
mission  to  fight  them,  as,  in  fact,  it  had  been  part  of 
the  work  of  Jesus  on  earth.  For  the  Christian, 

1  Civ.  Dei  xxii  8.    Cf.  Confess,  ix  16 ;  Irenaeus  Haer.  ii  31,  2. 

2  Sulpic.  Severus  Vit.  Martin  (ed.  Halm  C8EL)  cc.  1  §  9 ;  7,  8,  16 ; 
Vial.  i  24  §  25,  ii  4,  iii  5  §  5. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  131 

"  The  ancient  Prince  of  ill, 
Look  grim  as  e'er  he  will," 

is  absolutely  the  most  futile  of  beings.  '  Thou  art 
utterly  despicable/  said  St.  Anthony,  one  of  the 
great,  if  shadowy  types  of  the  early  Church,  to  the 
demon  that  cowered  at  his  feet ;  '  thou  art  black  of 
soul,  yet  weak  as  a  child.  Henceforth  I  will  not 
cast  one  thought  on  thee.' l  In  this  consciousness  of 
victory  over  the  powers  of  evil  lay  one  secret  of  the 
success  of  the  Church.  Devils  existed — that  was 
undeniable,  accepted  by  heathen  and  Christian  alike. 
But  the  Christians  claimed  that  they  possessed  the 
means  of  subduing  them. 

'  I  will  not  argue  the  matter  any  further,*  writes  Tertullian. 
*  There  is  a  quicker  way  of  demonstrating  the  truth.  Let  a  demoniac, 
acknowledged  as  such,  be  brought  before  your  tribunal.  Then  let 
that  spirit  be  commanded  to  speak  by  any  Christian,  and  he  will 
profess  himself  a  devil  as  sincerely  as  elsewhere  he  falsely  asserts 
that  he  is  a  god.' 2 

And  the  conquered  devils,  adds  Minucius  Felix, 
because  of  their  fears,  stir  up  against  the  Chris- 
tians persecution  and  hatred.3  One  early  order  in 
the  Church,  the  exorcists,  was  specially  dedicated 
to  the  task.  They  cast  out  devils,  so  the  Church 

1  See  the  Vita  Antonii  cc.  5, 16,  43  etc.  in  Migne  PG  xxvi  835  ff. 
Whether  this  work  is  a  romance  (Weingarten)  or  historical  in  the 
main,  as  Dom  Butler  has,   I  think,  succeeded  in  showing  (Hist. 
Lausiaca,  Camb.  1905),  is  immaterial.    The  success  of  the  romance,  if 
romance  it  be,  lay  partly  in  its  insistence  upon  the  power  of  the  monk 
over  devils.    See   Glover:    Life  and  Letters  in  Fourth  Ce?tf.(1901) 
p.  385.    Of.  Vita  Pacliomii  49  (Migne  PL  Ixxiii  267). 

2  Tert.  Apol  23.    Cf.  Minuc.  Felix  Oct.  27. 

3  The  Christians  at  Lyons  ascribe  their  persecution  (infra  p.  295) 
to  demons  under  the  lead  of  '  the  adversary '  (6  dj/riKei'/teyos)  Euseb. 
BE  v  1,  5 ;  Gebhardt  AMS  28. 


132       PERSECUTION  IN  THE   EARLY  CHURCH 

believed,  by  the  use  of  the  name  of  Jesus,1  and  by 
the  sign  or  mention  of  the  Cross.2  Their  superior 
powers  in  this  matter — for  the  Christians  acknow- 
ledged some  reality  in  heathen  enchantments — were 
acknowledged  by  the  heathen,  and  were  twisted 
against  them,  for  instance,  by  Celsus,  as  they  had 
been  twisted  by  the  scribes  against  our  Lord,  into 
a  proof  of  alliance  with  the  demons  themselves. 
Undoubtedly  they  were  sorcerers,  their  successes 
showed  that,  of  whom  Jesus  with  His  "miracles" 
had  been  the  master  and  leader.3 

Of  the  widespread  belief  in  the  second  and 
third  centuries  in  the  magic  arts  of  the  Christians 
the  proofs  are  overwhelming.  '  Where  are  the 
magicians,  your  teachers  in  this  jugglery?'  said 
Marcian  to  the  martyr  Achatius.4  Some  have  found 

1  Justin  Dial.  85  (an  important  chapter) ;  Orig.  Ceh.  i  6,  *  by  the 
name  of  Jesus  together  with  the  reading  of  the  narratives  which 
relate  to  Him.1    This  is  effectual '  even  when  pronounced  by  bad  men ' 
(cf.  Acts  xix  13 ;  Pseudo- Cyprian  Rebaptism  7)  ib.  i  67.    Elsewhere 
Origen  sinks  even  lower,  ib.  i  24,  'names    spoken    in    Coptic  are 
efficacious  against  certain  demons.' 

2  Justin  Dial    30,  49    (last    clause)    76,    85,    Apol   55    (Cross 
dominates   all,  as  is   shown    by  human   body   being  in  its  form) 
II  Apol.  6  (contrasts  heathen  exorcists  with  their  incantations); 
Irenaeus  Haer.  ii  32,  4;   Lactantius  Instit.  Div.  iv  27.      For  the 
widespread  use  of  the  sign  of  the  cross  from  A.D.  150  onwards  see 
Tert.  de  Cor.  Mil.  3,  '  when  we  put  on  our  clothes  and  shoes,  when 
we  bathe,  when  we  light  the  lamps,  &c.  &c.'      Cf.  Minuc.  Felix. 
Oct.  29  fin.     For  exorcism  as  a  regular  part  of    Church  work  see 
Theophilus  Ad.  Autolyc.  ii  8  fin. ;  Orig.  Gels,  i  46;  Cyprian  adDemetr. 
15 ;    Vanity  of   Idols  7  ;    Pseudo-Clement    I.  De    Virginitate    10 ; 
Augustine  Civ.  Dei  x  22.     Origen  Ceh.  vii  4  admits  that  exorcists 
as  a  rule  were  uneducated  men. 

*  For  the  views  of  Celsus  see  Orig.  Ceh.  i  6,  68. 

*  Gebhardt  AMS  119.    See  what  follows,  *  magi  estis  quia  noyum 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED         133 

evidence  of  this  suspicion  in  the  earliest  times  in 
the  punishment  devised  for  the  Christians  by  Nero. 
By  Eoman  law,  those  condemned  for  abetting 
magical  practices  were  condemned  to  be  thrown  to 
the  beasts,  or  to  be  crucified,  while  actual  sorcerers 
were  to  be  burnt  alive.1  Nero  confused  these  punish- 
ments together,  by  condemning  the  Christians  to  be 
wrapped  in  the  skins  of  beasts  and  thus  exposed 
to  savage  dogs,  or  to  be  smeared  with  pitch,  then 
fastened  to  crosses,  and  set  on  fire.2  Probably,  in 
our  judgement,  the  punishment  was  rather  the 
coincidence  of  cruelty  than  a  judicial  sentence.  But 
if  Nero  had  lived  in  a  later  age  we  should  have 
decided  otherwise,  not  merely  because  of  heathen 
opinion,  but  also  by  reason  of  the  magical  or  semi- 
magical  beliefs  which  had  invaded  the  Church  itself, 
and  which  still,  alas !  in  some  quarters  retain 
their  ancient  power.  Cyprian  tells  us  stories  of  the 
supernatural  powers  of  the  consecrated  elements 
worthy  of  that  great  master  of  mediaeval  superstition, 
Caesar  of  Heisterbach  ; 8  while  Gregory  the  Wonder- 
worker (Thaumaturgus),  deliberately  adopted  credulity 
as  one  of  the  auxiliaries  of  the  Church  in  the 

nescio  quod  genus  religionis  inducitis ; '  '  You  must  be  sorcerers,  for 
you  are  bringing  in  some  new  kind  of  religion.'  See  also  Perpetua 
infra  p.  316 ;  Tarachus  and  others  (Kuinart  AM  436,  infra  pp.  285, 
330).  For  Achatius  see  infra  p.  330. 

1  Paulus  Sent,  v  23,  17.     'Magicae  artis  conscios  .  .  .  bestiis 
obici  aut  crucibus  suffigi ;  ipsi  autem  magi  vivi  exuruntur.' 

2  Tac.  Ann,  xv  44 ;  see  infra  pp.  285-6. 

*  Cyprian  de  Lapsis  25,  26  (two  astonishing  chapters).  Caesar 
Heisterbach's  Dialogus  Miraculorum  (Ed.  Strange  1851),  is  the  best 
storehouse  of  mediaeval  marvels  that  I  know  of. 


134       PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

conversion  of  the  heathen.1  The  Christians  of  the 
third  century  had  largely  themselves  to  thank  if  they 
were  looked  upon  as  too  familiar  with  the  black  art. 

The  effect  of  all^this  on  the  persecution  of  the 
Christians  needs  but  little  explanation.  To  the  dire 
magic  of  the  Christians  were  attributed  not  only  the 
disasters  of  nature,  but  the  failure  of  the  current 
religion.  The  heathen  believed  that  by  their  superior 
exorcisms  the  Christians  C9uld  reduce  to  silence 
oracles  which  hitherto  had  proved  the  fortune  of 
a  whole  country ;  that  in  many  ways  their  black  arts 
caused  the  customary  manifestations  of  the  super- 
natural to  miscarry.  According  to  Dionysius  of 
Alexandria,  it  was  this  that  led  to  the  outbreak  of 
the  Valerian  persecution : 

*  Never  was  there  any  of  the  emperors  before  him  so  favourably 
and  benevolently  disposed  towards  the  Christians.  .  .  .  His  palace 
was  indeed  an  ecclesia  of  the  Lord.  But  the  chief  of  the  Egyptian 
magi  persuaded  him  to  abandon  this  course,  exhorting  him  to  slay 
these  holy  men  as  enemies  and  obstacles  to  their  detestable  in- 
cantations. For  there  were  and  still  are  among  the  Christians  many 
whose  mere  presence  and  look,  though  they  merely  breathed  and 
spoke,  are  able  to  put  to  nought  the  artifices  of  wicked  demons.' 2 

We  have  an  interesting  illustration,  both  of  the 
current  superstition  and  its  relation  to  the  persecution 
of  the  Christians,  in  the  career  of  the  impostor 
Alexander  of  Abonutichos,  as  described  for  us  by 
the  master-hand  of  Lucian.8  Acting  on  the  credulity 

1  See  infra  p.  345.  Gregory  (f  270)  is  credited  with  a  fine 
collection  of  miracles.  He  was  evidently  a  man  of  magnetic 
personality  as  well  as  a  great  missionary.  See  DCS  s.v. 

3  Euseb.  HE  vii  10,  4.     See  also  case  of  Diocletian,  infra  p.  207. 

3  Lucian  Alexander  the   Oracle-Monger,  Ed.  Dindorfi',  ii  205  ff. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  135 

of  the  '  fat-head '  Paphlagonians,  Alexander,  *  a  fine, 
handsome  man  with  a  real  touch  of  divinity  about 
him/  set  up  in  his  native  town  of  Abonutichos  an 
oracle  of  Aesculapius.  Lucian  describes  minutely 
how  the  trick  was  done.  Brazen  tablets  were  buried 
in  the  temple  of  Apollo  at  Chalcedon,  announcing 
that  Aesculapius  would  shortly  pay  a  visit  to  Pontus. 
The  '  chewing  of  soap-wort,'  a  '  serpent's  head  of 
linen,'  and  the  '  burying  of  a  goose-egg  in  which  he 
had  inserted  a  new-born  reptile,'  did  the  rest.  The 
clever  rascal — '  who  never  made  a  small  plan,  his 
ideas  were  always  large' — after  proper  formalities, 
dug  up  the  buried  egg,  '  and  announced  that  here  he 
held  Aesculapius.'  1  When  the  crowd  saw  the  reptile, 
*  they  raised  a  shout,  hailed  the  God,  blessed  the 
city,  and  every  mouth  was  full  of  prayers.'  Bithynia 
and  Galatia  flocked  to  see  the  new-born  deity. 

*  Alexander  proclaimed  that  on  a  stated  day  the  god  would  give 
answers  to  all  comers.  Each  person  was  to  write  down  his  wish 
and  the  object  of  his  curiosity,  fasten  the  packet  with  thread,  seal 
it  with  wax.  Alexander  would  receive  these  ,  .  .  and  return  the 
packets  with  the  seals  intact  and  the  answers  attached.' 

Lucian  adds,  for  the  information  of  the  unskilled 
in  these  matters,  three  methods  by  which  the  seals 
could  be  opened  and  refastened.  As  for  his  oracles, 
'  some  were  crabbed  and  ambiguous,  others  un- 
intelligible.' Of  the  latter,  the  following  may  serve : 
'Morphi  ebargulis  for  night  Chnenchiorante  shall 

Well  translated  in  Fowler's  Lucian  (1905)  ii  212  ff.  This  brochure 
is  dedicated  to  Celsus. 

1  The  serpent  in  Anatolia  was  the  symbol  of  Aesculapius.  See 
e.g-  Ramsay  SC  285  plate. 


136        PEKSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

leave  the  light.'  But  unintelligible  or  ambiguous, 
the  trick  succeeded.  At  a  fixed  charge  of  a  shilling 
per  oracle,  Alexander  made  something  like  £3,000  a 
year.  His  agents  were  everywhere,  spreading  abroad, 
on  commission,  the  fame  of  the  new  god.  '  At  Eome 
the  only  question  was  who  should  be  the  first  to  fly 
to  Abonutichos.'  We  must  not  prolong  the  astonish- 
ing story.  But  it  is  of  importance  to  note  that  when 
Alexander  was 

'instituting  his  mysteries  with  hierophants  and  torchbearers 
complete  ...  on  the  first  day  proclamation  was  made  to  this 
effect :  If  there  be  any  atheist  or  Christian  or  Epicurean l  here  spying 
upon  our  rites,  let  him  depart  in  haste.  .  .  .  Alexander  himself  led 
the  litany  with  the  cry,  *'  Christians,  begone." ' 

The  crowd  responded ;  for  the  evil  eye  of  the 
Christians,  to  say  nothing  of  their  sorceries,  could 
ruin  even  an  oracle  of  Aesculapius. 

Another  interesting  illustration  is  the  story  of  the 
five  sculptors  of  Sirmium.  At  one  of  Diocletian's 
quarries  in  Pannonia  there  was  an  encampment  of 
622  masons  and  carvers,  under  a  number  of  '  philo- 
sophers,' or  foremen.  Among  them  there  were  four 
Christians  of  special  ability  who  won  the  praise  of 

1  The  Christians  were  often  classed  in  popular  hatred  with  both 
Cynics  and  Epicureans.  According  to  Lucian,  Peregrinus  from  a 
Christian  became  a  Cynic,  and  died  as  such.  Lucian  PP.  36.  To 
the  casual  observer  there  were  certain  points  of  similarity  in  their 
creeds ;  Lightf.  Ign.  i  344,  n. ;  Renan  EC  309,  312-3.  We  may  also 
compare  the  enthusiasm  with  which  the  Christians  acclaimed 
Oenomaus  of  Gadara's  Cynic  attack  on  a  false  oracle,  by  which  at 
one  time  he  had  been  deceived  (Euseb.  Prep.  Evang.  v  18-36,  vi 
6-7;  Chron.  yr.  3  of  Hadrian,  ed.  Schoene  ii  164).  For  Christianity 
in  Pont  us  see  infra  p.  210. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED         137 

Diocletian  by  quarrying  a  single  block  of  Btone,  out 
of  which  they  carved  a  group  twenty-five  feet  in 
length.  One  of  the  gang,  Simplicius,  found  that  his 
tools  broke  more  frequently  than  those  of  his  comrades. 
He  asked  the  reason,  and  was  told  by  his  companions 
that  it  was  because  they  were  Christians.  He  there- 
upon requested  his  friends  to  bless  his  tools  also,  and 
was  so  impressed  by  the  good  results  that  he  too 
became  a  disciple,  and  was  baptized  by  Bishop  Cyril 
of  Antioch,  who  for  three  years  had  been  a  slave  in 
the  quarries.1  The  little  band  soon  fell  into  trouble, 
through  the  jealousy  of  their  pagan  comrades.  One 
of  the  '  philosophers  '  observed  them  making  the  sign 
of  the  cross  upon  all  their  works.  A  few  months 
later  Diocletian  ordered  the  four  to  carve  an  image 
of  Aesculapius.  The  Christians,  who  had  carved 
without  demur  an  image  of  the  sun,  refused  to  touch 
that  of  the  hated  rival  '  saviour.* 2  The  '  philosophers ' 
saw  their  opportunity,  and  accused  the  stonemasons 
of  Christianity  and  magic.  Diocletian  was  vexed.  '  I 
will  not  have  my  skilled  workmen  reviled,'  he  said. 
But  after  some  delay  his  hatred  of  Christianity  pre- 
vailed over  his  love  of  good  artists.  He  ordered  them 
to  be  beaten  with  scorpions,  then  enclosed  in  lead 
and  thrown  into  the  river  Save.8 

1  This  fixes  the  date  as  306,  after  Diocletian's  retirement  (infra 
p.  277).  See  Harnack  CAL  i  217.  2  See  supra  p.  80,  n. 

*  For  the  Passio  quatuor  Coronatorum  Petschenig's  text  in  Wien 
akad.  xcvii  761,  or  the  translation  in  Mason  DP  259  ff.  The 
'  Four  Crowned,'  the  name  by  which  the  narrative  is  known  in  church 
liturgies  and  dedications  (DCA  i  461),  is  an  unhistorical  addition  to 
this  story  of  the  stonemasons. 


138        PEKSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

III 

Hitherto  we  have  considered  the  causes  of  hatred 
that  in  some  degree  might  be  considered  as  external 
to  Christianity,  discordant  or  antagonistic  factors  in 
its  environment.  We  now  turn  to  the  elements  in 
the  life  and  faith  of  the  Early  Church  which  brought 
against  it  the  charge  of  anarchism,  and  the  wrath  of 
both  mob  and  empire.  The  study  of  these  will  throw 
light,  not  only  upon  the  origin  of  persecution,  but  also 
upon  the  thought  and  character  of  the  Church  of 
the  early  Fathers.  One  caution  must  be  given  at 
the  outset.  Persecution  as  a  rule  did  not  affect  the 
average  member  of  the  Church ;  it  fell  hardly  upon 
the  extremists,  the  out-and-outs,  call  them  what  we 
will.  The  elements  in  Christian  life  upon  which  we 
shall  dwell  in  the  sections  of  this  chapter  must  not, 
therefore,  be  taken  to  be  of  necessity  the  character- 
istics of  the  ordinary  member.  But  earthly  institu- 
tions should  not  be  judged  by  their  averages,  but  by 
the  ideals  of  their  leaders. 

There  were  in  the  main  five  internal  causes  of  the 
hatred  felt  for  the  Church  by  government  and  people. 
First,  though  not  foremost  in  importance,  was  the 
effect  of  Christianity  as  a  disintegrating  factor  upon 
ihefamilia — a  word  not  adequately  represented  by  the 
modern  "  family  " — including  the  tendency  among 
many  of  the  early  Christians  to  discourage  marriage. 
In  the  eyes  of  St.  Paul,  this  last  was  part  of  the 
renunciation  laid  upon  him  by  the  Lord  Jesus,  and 
though  he  is  careful  not  to  elevate  this  individual 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  139 

rule  into  a  law  for  all,  nevertheless  there  can  be  little 
doubt  of  the  general  impression  that  his  defence  of 
celibacy  produced.  Even  in  the  cases  where  marriages 
were  allowed,  intermarriage  with  heathen  was  for- 
bidden ; l  a  command  necessary  indeed  if  the  purity 
of  the  Christian  faith  should  be  maintained.  The 
effect,  however,  must  have  been  constant  friction  with 
heathen  families,  who  would  bitterly  resent  what 
they  would  regard  as  the  Christian  pride  and  aloof- 
ness. They  would  feel,  not  without  justice,  that  the 
Christians  despised  the  world  in  which  they  lived, 
and  were  somewhat  contemptuous  of  its  race  interests a 
and  family  bonds.  '  Tampering  with  domestic  rela- 
tions'3  was  one  of  the  earliest  charges  brought  against 
the  followers  of  Jesus.  This  belief  in  Christian 
misanthropy  would  be  strengthened  by  the  in- 
cautious quotation  before  the  heathen  of  the  many 
hard  sayings  of  the  Saviour,  especially  those  dealing 
with  the  family.  For  Jesus  had  owned  that  He 

'  came  not  to  send  peace,  but  a  sword.  For  I  am  come  to  set  a  man  at 
variance  against  his  father,  and  the  daughter  against  her  mother,  and 
the  daughter-in-law  against  her  mother-in-law.  And  a  man's  foes  shall 
bo  they  of  his  own  household.'  Matt,  x  34-5. 

All  this  was  inevitable,  and  needs  neither  explana- 
tion nor  illustration.  Variance  in  the  home  is  the 

1  So  St.  Paul,  1  Cur.  vii  37.    The  Church,  though  at  first  siding 
with  St.  Paul,  never  seems  to  have  been  strong  enough  to  enforce  this 
rule ;  see  Harnack  EC  ii  235-8. 

2  See  the  remark  of  Arrius  Antoninus  infra  p.  332. 

3  'A\\oTptoeTriffKoiros  I  Pet.  iv  15.    So  llamsay  ChE  293,  n.,  but 
see  Bigg  St.  Peter  178.     The  word,  according  to  Grimm,  only  occurs 
elsewhere  in  Dionysius  Areop.  Ep.  8. 


140        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

jirst  effect  of  missionary  effort,  whether  in  the  second 
or  the  twentieth  century.  One  example  must  suffice 
for  many,  the  case  of  Alee  of  Smyrna,  whom  Ignatius 
calls  'that  name  beloved  by  me.'  Her  brother 
Herod,  the  eirenarch  or  chief  of  the  police,  and  her 
father  Nicetas  were  foremost  in  securing  the  con- 
demnation of  Poly  carp.1 

The  student,  moreover,  should  remember  that  the 
pagan  world  would  not  distinguish,  with  the  care  of  his 
text-books,  between  the  heretical  and  Catholic  views. 
Heretical  anti-social  views  abounded,  and  would  add 
to  the  uneasiness  of  the  governing  classes.  For  the 
Eoman,  in  spite  of  growing  luxury  and  licence,  still 
looked  upon  the  family  as  the  unit-cell  of  the  State 
and  the  foundation  of  morality.  If  the  Acts  of  St. 
Paul  and  Thekla a  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  an 

1  Ignatius  Ep.  Smyrn.  3  Polyc.  8 ;  Mart.  Poly.  cc.  8, 17. 

8  For  the  Acta  Pauli  et  Theclae  see  the  text  in  Gebhardt  AMS 
216-9,  or  his  critical  ed.  in  TU,  1902,  or  Lipsius  and  Bonnet  AAA  i 
235  if.,  or  Tischendorf  AAA  40  ff.  There  is  an  Eng.  trans,  in  Clark's 
Ante-Nic.  Library  vol.  xvi.  The  early  origin,  as  well  as  its  popularity, 
is  proved  by  references  in  Tertullian  de  Bapt.  17,  and  other  early 
writers  (see  list  in  Lipsius  AAA  i  proleg.  xcv  ff.,  or  DCB  iv  887,  888, 
n.).  It  would  appear  to  be  the  oldest  of  our  extant  N.T.  Apocrypha 
(DCB  iv  886,  for  a  later  date  Lipsius  ApoTt.  Apostel.  ii  424  ff.).  The 
whole  story  turns  on  the  exaltation  of  virginity  over  marriage,  and 
shows  Encratic  influences,  though  Tert.  gives  no  hint  that  he  con- 
sidered it  heretical.  Though  the  writer  utterly  fails  to  grasp  the 
character  of  St.  Paul  (DCB  iv  890),  it  is  probable  that  the  work  has 
some  historical  basis  underlying  it ;  see  Ramsay  ChE  375-428 ;  Cony- 
beare  MEG  22-6, 57-8,  65  ff. ;  Gebhardt  TU  (1902).  Gutschmidt  has 
shown  that  Castelius  the  governor  and  Queen  Tryphaena  are  real 
persons  (DCB  iv  893,  n.).  For  the  purposes  of  this  lecture,  I  only 
refer  to  such  incidents,  &c.,  as  are  of  historical  yalue  because  of  the 
early  date  of  the  work,  whatever  its  basis  of  truth. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  141 

intelligent  Roman  official,  could  we  have  blamed  him 
if  he  had  detected  its  dangerous  tendencies  ?  Here 
is  a  document,  he  would  have  argued,  dealing  with 
one  of  the  leaders  of  this  sect,  in  which  we  see  that 
the  first  effect  of  the  preaching  of  St  Paul  is  for 
Thekla  to  refuse  as  sinful  the  marriage  arranged  for 
her  by  her  parents : 

Whereupon  her  betrothed  went  out  into  the  street  and  kept  a  watch 
upon  those  who  went  in  and  out  to  Paul.  And  he  saw  two  men  bitterly 
contending  with  each  other.  "Men,"  he  said,  "who  are  you?  and 
who  is  that  fellow  with  you  in  the  house  who  leads  astray  the  souls  of 
young  men  and  deceives  virgins  BO  that  they  refuse  to  marry,  but 
remain  as  they  are  ?  "  And  Demas  answered  him :  "  Who  this  is  we 
do  not  know,  but  he  deprives  young  men  of  wives  and  maidens  of 
husbands  by  saying  that  in  no  other  way  shall  there  be  a  resurrection 
for  you  save  by  remaining  chaste  and  keeping  the  flesh  chaste." l 

Nor  would  our  Eoman  official  have  been  favourably 
impressed  by  the  rest  of  the  story,  how  Thekla  bribed 
the  gaoler  with  her  bracelets  that  she  might  gain 
access  by  night  to  the  Apostle,  how  on  escape  from 
prison  Thekla  ran  after  St.  Paul  and  said,  '  I  will  cut 
off  my  hair  and  follow  thee  whithersoever  thou  goest,' 
and  much  else  to  the  same  effect. 

The  Acts  of  Paul  and  Thekla  is  a  second-century 
romance  written  by  a  Syrian  presbyter,2  the  historical 
basis  of  which  it  is  difficult  to  dissever  from  its  later 
accretions.  But  the  romance  for  our  present  purpose 

1  o.o.  c.  11.  Inscriptions  recording  virginity  or  chastity  on  the 
part  of  married  f6lk  are  common,  and  show  the  drift  of  the  Church. 
In  the  case  of  mixed  marriages  we  can  understand  friction.  See 
Allard  Let  Catacombs  (Paris,  1896)  p.  207.  But  Le  Blant  ICG  i  400, 
ii  240,  understands  mrgineu*  to  equal  monogamus. 

3  Tert  d«  bapt,  17.    For  the  date  see  Harnack  CAL  i  496-505. 


142       PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

is  a  real  document,  for  the  tale  was  accepted  by  the 
Church  with  enthusiastic  belief.  We  may  instance, 
moreover,  as  confirmation  of  the  same  tendency  in 
certain  sections  of  the  Church,  the  examination  in 
the  time  of  Diocletian  of  Pollio,  a  '  reader '  of  Cibalae 
(Vinkovce),  a  town  of  Hungary. 

"  What  is  your  name  ?  "  asked  the  judge.  "  Pollio."  "  Are  you 
a  Christian?"  "Yes."  "What  office  do  you  hold?"  "I  am  the 
chief  of  the  readers."  "  What  do  you  mean  by  a  reader  ?  "  *'  One 
whose  duty  it  is  to  read  God's  word  to  the  congregation."  "  You 
mean  those  people  who  impose  upon  silly  women  (mulierculas)  and 
tell  them  that  they  must  not  marry,  and  persuade  them  to  adopt 
a  fanciful  chastity."  l 

Le  Blant  has  pointed  out  another  way  in  which, 
in  certain  extreme  sections,  Christianity  would  run 
counter  to  the  Boman  ideas  of  the  family.  In  Gaul, 
it  seems,  Christian  inscriptions  rarely  mention 
parentage.  Acting  on  a  mistaken  interpretation  of 
the  words  of  Jesus,  the  Christians  of  Gaul  refused 
to  call  any  man  father.2  We  have  illustrations  of 
this  of  an  earlier  date.  "Of  what  parents  are  you 
born  ?  "  said  the  judge  to  Lucian  of  Antioch.  "  I  am 
a  Christian,"  he  answered,  "and  a  Christian's  only 
relatives  are  the  saints."  8 

1  Ruinart    AM  404,   April    27th,    304.      This    document    was 
transcribed  from  the  original  by  order  of  Valentinian  I  (f  375),  a 
native  of  Cibalae.      The  only  churches  which  possess  an  order  of 
bishops  which  have  not  retained  the  order  of  *  readers '  seem  to  be 
those  of  England  and  Abyssinia.     See  DCA  ii  1472 ;  also  ib.  1509. 

2  Matt,  xxiii  9;  Le  Blant  ICG  i  126. 

8  Ruinart  AM  507, '  Cognates  habet  sanctos  omnes.'  Cf.  Irenaeus 
of  Sirmium,  infra  p.  320.  For  Lucian  f  Jan.  7,  312  and  his  supposed 
Arianism,  see  DCB  s.v.  (12);  Harnack  GAL  ii  138  ff. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  143 

Moreover,  with  the  best  intentions  in  the  world, 
and  under  the  most  judicious  missionaries,  the 
proselytizing  efforts  of  the  Christians,  by  thrusting  a 
wedge  into  the  life  of  the  home,  could  not  fail  at  times 
to  give  rise  to  scandals.  We  see  this  in  the  case  of 
Dativus,  a  decurion  or  senator  of  Carthage,  who,  on 
the  defection  of  its  bishop,  had  shepherded  the 
Church  of  Abitini.  Forty-nine  of  the  little  flock 
were  brought  to  Carthage  and  tried.  When  Dativus 
was  stretched  on  the  hobby  horse,  a  charge  was  laid 
against  him  by  a  certain  Fortunatianus,  a  noble 
barrister  of  Carthage, 

"  that  in  the  absence  of  our  father,  and  while  I  was  at  my  studies, 
he  seduced  our  sister  Victoria  and  led  her  and  two  other  girls  away 
from  this  great  city  to  Abitini.  In  fact,  he  never  entered  our  house 
without  beguiling  the  girls'  minds  with  his  soft  soap."  Victoria 
interrupted  with  a  Christian's  freedom  of  speech  :  "  I  set  out  and 
journeyed  to  Abitini  of  my  own  free  will,  and  not  at  the  persuasion 
or  in  the  company  of  Dativus.  I  can  call  citizens  to  prove  this."  l 

Dativus  would  not  be  alone  in  such  charges.  We 
may  be  sure  that  the  heathen  interpreted  the  most 
innocent  acts  into  occasions  of  scandal.  Thus  we 
read,  during  the  persecution  of  Diocletian,  of  several 
Christian  girls  from  Thessalonica,  who  ran  off  to  the 
mountains  without  their  father's  knowledge.  By 
the  sentence  he  passed  upon  Irene,  their  leader,  the 
judge  Dulcetius  evidently  considered  that  they  were 
women  of  frail  reputation.2 

1  Ruinart  AM  385.  Feb.  12,  304.  Fortunatianus  afterwards 
became  a  Christian.  The  site  of  Abitini  is  unknown  (Tissot  PRA 
ii  771). 

*  11.  395,  and  for  sentence  see  infra  App.  H.    Date  April  1,  304. 


144        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

Or  turn  to  the  misunderstandings  and  persecutions 
to  which  Christians  were  exposed  in  the  home  itself. 
The  Koman  familia  was  scarcely  the  modern  English 
family;  it  was  a  little  world  of  its  own,  the  head 
of  which  had  autocratic  powers  jealously  guarded 
by  the  law  from  autocratic  interference.  The  result, 
as  in  modern  India,  was  inevitable.  Unfortunately, 
we  possess  no  records  giving  us  an  account  in  any 
detail  of  the  experiences  of  a  convert  in  a  heathen 
home  of  the  old  world.  Lanciani  has  published  an 
inscription  of  the  second  century  written  on  the  tomb 
of  a  daughter,  of  whom  the  father  says :  '  She  was 
a  pagan  among  pagans,  a  believer  among  believers.' 1 
Between  the  lines  we  can  read  much ;  the  child  of 
a  mixed  marriage  doing  her  best  to  live  in  peace 
in  a  home  where  the  father  was  a  heathen,  the 
mother  a  Christian.  Justin  Martyr  also  tells  a  tale, 
in  many  of  its  details,  probably,  characteristic  of  the 
times.2  A  woman  after  her  conversion  sought  to 
purify  her  own  life  and  that  of  her  licentious 
husband.  Finding  this  last  to  be  impossible,  she 
determined  to  separate  from  him,  and  sought  a 
divorce.  In  revenge  the  husband  denounced  his  wife 
and  her  'teacher,' 8  Ptolemy,  as  Christians.*  Ptolemy 

1  Lanciani  PCS  15-6. 

2  Justin  M.  II  Apol.  2;  also  in  Ruinart  AM  53,  and  Euseb.  HE 
iv  17.    Date  between  155-160  (see  Aube  8t.  Justin  68  ff.).    On  the 
legal  question  involved  in  this  dowry,  see  Roby  Roman  Private  Law 
(1902)  i  142-5. 

3  StSeiovfaAos,  i.e.  one  of  the  order  of  'teachers,'  on  whom  see 
Lindsay  Ch.  and  Ministry  103  ff.,  or  Allen  Christian  Instits.  55,  57. 

4  Cf.  the  case  of  Claudius  Herminianus  in  Cappadocia,  who,  on 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  115 

was  'questioned  on  this  sole  point,'  and  on  his 
confession  was  led  away  to  death.  The  wife,  how- 
ever, escaped,  by  the  subtlety  of  her  lawyers.  They 
persuaded  her  to  appeal  to  the  emperor  for  time  *  to 
settle  her  affairs,'  before  making  answer  on  this 
capital  charge.  This  was  granted.  But  such  a 
settlement  involved  the  restoration  by  the  spend- 
thrift husband  of  the  dowry  of  his  wife.  As  the 
husband  could  not  find  the  money,  he  took  care  not 
to  present  himself  in  court.  In  the  absence  of 
accuser  the  charge  fell  to  the  ground,  in  accordance 
with  the  decision  of  Hadrian.1 

For  the  Christian  wife,  conflict  with  her  heathen 
husband a  would  be  accentuated  by  the  arrival  of  the 
first  baby.  No  woman  who  had  worshipped  the  Child 
of  Bethlehem  could  ever  allow  to  go  unchallenged  the 
patria  potestas,  the  right  of  the  father  to  decide 
which  of  his  children  should  be  permitted  to  live, 
and  which  should  be  cast  into  the  street,  or  exposed 
on  the  Island  in  the  Tiber.  'If  it  proves  a  girl,' 
writes  a  father  in  Alexandria  to  his  expectant  wife, 
'  throw  it  out.' 3  As  to  this  and  other  evil  practices 
sanctioned  by  a  home-life  in  many  respects  elevated 
and  pure  the  issue  was  clear.  But  our  sympathies 

his  wife  becoming  a  Christian,  cruelly  persecuted  the  Christians  iu 
his  province.  Tert.  ad  Soap.  3.  *  Infra  p.  218. 

2  In  the  case  of  a  Christian  marrying  a  heathen  a  difficulty 
would  arise  over  the  marriage  itself.      It  would  have  to  be  by 
coemptio.    On  this  legal  question,  see  Roby  o.c.  i  69-71. 

3  Grenfell  and  Hunt   Oxyr.  Papyri  iv  744.    With  this  contrast 
Lactantius  Instit.  vi  20,  Justin  I  Apol.  27.    For  the  Church  and  the 
care  of  foundlings,  see  Allard  Les  Esclaves  Chretiens  iii  c.  2. 

L 


146        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

are  less  assured  in  other  matters,  for  instance, 
Tertullian's  portrait  of  a  Christian  wife  who  has  at 
her  side  a  servant  of  the  devil — this  is  his  pleasant 
name  for  her  husband.  The  man,  he  says,  is  sure 
to  be  such  a  brute  that  if  it  is  a  fast  day  he  will 

*  arrange  to  hold  a  feast  the  same  day.'     He  will 
further  prove  his  allegiance  to  Satan  by  taking  it 
ill  that  his  wife 

*  for  the  sake  of  visiting  the  brethren  goes  round  from  street  to  street 
to  other  men's  cottages,  especially  those  of  the  poor.  ...  He  will  not 
allow  her  to  be  absent  all  night  long  at  nocturnal  convocations  and 
paschal  solemnities  ...  or  suffer  her  to  creep  into  prison  to  kiss  a 
martyr's  bonds,  or  even  to  exchange  a  kiss  with  one  of  the  brethren.* 

After  this  it  is  a  little  matter  that  her  signing  '  her 
bed  and  her  body  with  the  Cross '  will  arouse  his 
suspicions.  If  the  fellow  endures  his  wife  and  her 
ways  at  all  it  will  simply  be  because  of  her  dowry, 
or  that  he  may  make  her  his  slave  by  his  threats 
of  dragging  her  before  the  executioner.1  We  can 
hardly  believe  that  all  pagan  husbands  were  brutes, 
or  all  Christian  wives  so  lacking  at  times  in  discre- 
tion. But,  at  the  best,  the  situation  in  a  mixed 
marriage  was  difficult,  almost  impossible,  as  Tertul- 
lian,  in  spite  of  his  extravagance,  rightly  saw. 

The  difficulties  of  the  Christian  in  a  pagan  home 
did  not  cease  with  his  death.  Should  he  be  buried 
with  pagan  rites  and  inscriptions,  amid  his  pagan 
relatives,  or  should  he  lie  apart  ?  The  matter  of  the 

1  Tert.  ad  Uxor.  ii  4,  5.  The  whole  book  deals  with  the  matter 
of  mixed  marriages.  Cf.  also  ib.  Apol.  3  and  Arnobius  adv.  Gent. 
ii  5  (divorce  of  Christian  wives). 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED         147 

inscription  was  not  of  much  importance ;  it  was  not 
well  for  the  Christian  to  advertise  his  religion  too 
prominently  on  his  tomb.  Many,  in  fact,  inserted 
the  customary  pagan  formula  D.M.  (Dis  Manibus), 
probably  without  clear  idea  of  its  meaning.1  In  many 
cases  the  epitaphs  and  signs  are  ambiguous.2  But 
the  question  of  the  separate  tomb  is  of  more  moment. 
The  early  Christians  rightly  laid  stress  on  burial 
among  the  brethren.  This,  however,  involved  the 
exclusion  of  pagans.  Hence  husbands  lie  apart  from 
their  wives,  children  from  their  parents.  In  one  case 
permission  is  actually  given  in  an  epitaph  for  two 
husbands  to  be  buried  with  their  wives,  provided  they 
become  converts.3 

As  regards  one  cause  of  offence  the  heathen  cer- 
tainly had  justice  on  their  side.  In  220  Callistus,  who 
had  risen  from  a  slave  to  be  the  pope,  unfortunately 
declared  that  henceforth  the  Church  would  sanction 
that  a  girl  of  high  position  should  give  her  hand  to 
a  freedman,  careless  of  the  fact  that  such  a  union 
could  not  possibly  be  a  legal  marriage.  The  plea  of 
Callistus,  that  Christian  girls  of  noble  rank  far  out- 
numbered young  men  in  the  Church  of  the  same 
position — 'a  rich  unmarried  man  in  the  house  of 
God  it  is  difficult  to  find/  owns  Tertullian — can 

1  Ramsay  GBP  i.  523 ;  Le  Blaut  ICG  i  490.    The  original  idea  of 
the  Di  Manes  was  the  deification  or  apotheosis  of  the  dead,  i.e.  ancestor 
worship ;  Ramsay  CBP  i  100.    Hence  the  sanctity  of  the  graves ;  on 
which  see  infra  p.  258. 

2  Ramsay  CBP  i  502. 

3  Ramsay  CBP  i.  531.    For  instances  of  this  family  separation,  see 
6.  i  536. 


148       PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

hardly  justify  this  daring  defiance  of  public  opinion.1 
Its  effect,  all  questions  of  morality  apart,  was  to  open 
the  door  to  the  many  abuses  of  an  ecclesiastical  as 
distinct  from  a  civil  law  of  marriage.  In  matters 
like  these  we  see  some  of  the  reasons  for  the  dislike 
and  persecution  of  the  Church. 


IV 

We  pass  on  to  the  consideration  of  two  minor 
causes  of  heathen  hatred.  As  regards  both  the 
student  should  beware  of  exaggeration.  But  in  some 
quarters  they  would  have  importance. 

The  first  of  these  was  the  Christian  conception 
of  property.  We  do  not  allude  to  the  communism 
which  at  first  prevailed  at  Jerusalem.  Too  much 
importance  has  been  attached  to  an  experiment,  soon 
abandoned,  at  no  time  so  completely  developed  as 
among  the  Jewish  sects  of  Essenes  and  Therapeutae. 
Communism  in  the  Church,  under  the  guise  of 

1  Public  opinion,  contrary  to  the  case  of  a  deceased  wife's  sister 
to-day,  was  undoubtedly  hostile,  as  we  may  see  from  the  Constantino 
legislation  (infra).  For  this  decree  of  Callistus  see  Hippolytus 
Philos.  ix  12.  The  highly  coloured  additions  may  be  discounted  as  due 
to  H.'s  hatred  of  C.  or  a  transference  of  what  Tertullian  says  about  the 
Gentiles.  The  idea  that  Callistus  sanctioned  marriage  with  slaves 
(Hippolytus,  it  is  true,  speaks  of  it  in  less  honourable  terms)  is  pre- 
posterous. By  the  decree  of  Claudius  a  woman  doing  this  became  a 
slave.  Constantino  changed  this  into  the  death  penalty,  and  the  slave 
to  the  fire  (Oodex  Justinianm  ix  11,  Ed.  Krueger,  p.  377).  Tertullian  ad 
Uxor.  ii  8  shows  that  Callistus  only  sanctioned  a  practice  already 
prevalent,  of  which  Tertullian  approves.  The  LP  (Duchesne)  does  not 
mention  the  matter.  The  Apostolic  Constitutions  viii  32  are  clearly 
opposed  to  the  idea,  but  the  date  (espec.  of  bk.  viii)  is  too  uncertain. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  149 

Monasticism,  did  not  become  a  power  until  the  age 
of  persecution  was  past.  Nor  do  we  refer  to  the 
hostility  of  vested  interests,  though  undoubtedly  at 
all  times  this  would  be  a  serious  factor.1  We  allude 
rather  to  the  completely  altered  conception  that 
Christianity  must  have  effected  in  its  disciples  as 
regards  property  in  slaves.  No  doubt  Harnack  is 
right  when  he  claims  that  no  "  slave  question  "  in 
the  modern  sense  of  the  word  occupied  the  early 
Church.2  In  the  Kingdom  of  God,  as  in  the  realm 
of  nature,  slow  development  is  the  law  of  life.  In  the 
case  of  an  institution  so  interwoven  with  the  whole 
social  fabric  as  was  slavery  this  was  inevitable. 
Though  in  his  Epistle  to  Philemon  the  word  eman- 
cipation is  always  trembling  on  the  lips  of  St.  Paul, 
he  never  quite  utters  it,  while  it  took  the  Church 
centuries  to  rise  to  the  noble  ideal  of  the  great 
apostle.3  Christians  throughout  the  era  of  persecu- 
tion held  slaves,  as  other  men,  and  as  the  Jews  had 
done  before  them,  and  were  troubled  by  no  stings 

1  Acts  xvi,  xix ;  Pliny's  letter  infra  p.  209,  re  market  for  fodder. 

3  Harnack  EG  i  207,  who,  however,  does  not  do  St.  Paul  justice. 
Still  it  is  true  that  in  his  earlier  days  St.  Paul's  attitude  towards 
slavery  was  less  pronounced  (I  Cor.  vii  21,  on  which  difficult  passage 
see  Lightf.  Phil.  324,  n.,  or  Edwards  in  loc.),  perhaps  because  of  his 
early  parousian  ideas,  than  in  his  Ep.  Philemon.  St.  Peter  also  in  his 
epistle  (I  Peter  ii  18,  which  is  far  stronger  than  Eph.  vi  5-9,  Col. 
iii  22)  shows  no  consciousness  of  a  slave  question  even  in  the  case  of 
bad  masters.  The  matter  of  slavery  only  indirectly  touches  my  theme. 
The  student  will  find  the  best  guide  to  the  subject  in  Wallon  Histoire 
d*  Esclavage  dan*  VAnti quite  (Paris,  2nd  ed.  1879, 3  vols.),  or  Allard  Les 
Esclaves  Chretiens  (Paris,  1876),  this  last  not  always  critical. 

»  Lightf.  Phil.  323.  The  Church  of  the  fourth  century  had  a 
strong  bias  against  St.  Paul's  Philemon  (Lightf.  o.c.  316). 


150        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

of  conscience.1  But  every  Christian  who  knew  any- 
thing of  the  religion  he  professed  must  have  recog- 
nized that  with  Jesus  legal  rights  2  are  strictly  limited 
by  the  higher  law  of  love.  The  code,  for  instance, 
refused  to  recognize  the  marriage  of  slaves ;  the 
Christian  master  could  not  content  himself  with 
mere  cohabitation  (contulernium),  unblessed  by 
the  Church,  dissoluble  at  will.8  Slavery  might  be 
necessary ;  nevertheless,  pleads  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria, '  slaves  are  men  like  ourselves,'  to  whom  the 
Golden  Rule  applies.4  To  the  same  effect  was  the 

1  Athenagoras  Plea  35,  *  And  yet  we  have  slaves,  some  more  and 
some  fewer.'    Tatian  adv.  Graec.  4  looks  on  slavery  as  a  species  of 
tribute.    Ign.  Polyc.  4  urges  slaves  'not  to  desire  to  be  set  free  at 
the  public  cost.'  That  this,  however,  was  frequent  among  the  Christians, 
see  Apostol.  Constit.  iv  9.     But  to.  iv  12  shows  that  slavery  was  not 
considered  unnatural.     See  also  Tert.  de  Cor.  13,  who  seems  to  consider 
the  question  as  academic ;  Lactantius  Instit.  v  16 ;  Tatian  o.c.  11.    For 
the  Fathers  and  slavery,  see  Wallon  o.c.  iii  c.  8,  and  for  the  Church 
and  enfranchisement  ib.  iii  c.  9,  or  Allard  o.c.  Bk  ii  cc.  1  and  2.    The 
tales  of  wholesale  liberation  of  slaves  at  baptisms  (e.g.  A.SS  May  i  371 ; 
Jan.  ii  275)  are  either  myths  or  belong  to  a  later  date.    See  list  in 
Allard  o.c.  336,  who  accepts  them.    There  was,  in  fact,  much  to  be 
said  against  wholesale  liberation.    What  was  the  freed  slave  to  do  in  a 
country  where  free  labour  scarcely  existed  ?    Especially  would  it  have 
been  cruel  in  the  case  of  women  slaves.     "  A  freed  woman-slave  and  a 
courtesan  are  synonyms,  a  statement  linguistically  incorrect  in  Latin. 
The  same  word,  liberlina,  serves  for  both  "  (Allard  o.c.  179). 

2  By  Roman  law  the  slave  had  no  rights.     Dig.  iv  5,  3,  '  servile 
caput  nullum  jus  habet,'  and  fully,  Wallon  o.c.  ii  c  5. 

8  For  the  marriage  of  slaves  in  Roman  law,  see  a  brutal  illustration 
in  Marcian  Dig.  xxx  121,  dealing  with  a  sale  ('ventrem  cum 
liberis ').  See  also  Gaius  ib.  xx  1,  15,  and  Wallon  o.c.  ii  206-7 ;  and 
for  Christianity  and  the  marriage  of  slaves,  Allard  o.c.  Iii  c  4 ;  Wallon 
o.c.  iii  531. 

4  Clem.  Paed.  iii  12,  with  which  compare  Juvenal  Sat.  vi  219-23. 
'Pone  cruccm  servo.  ...  0  demons,  ita  servus  homo  est !  nil  fecerit 


THE  CAUSES  OF   HATBED  151 

reply  of  Lactantius l  to  those  who  pointed  out  that 
the  Christians  possessed  slaves :  *  Slaves  are  not 
slaves  to  us.  We  deem  them  brothers  after  the 
spirit,  in  religion  fellow-servants.'  A  confirmation 
of  this  may  be  found  in  the  fact  pointed  out  by  de 
Rossi  that  the  inscription  '  slave  '  is  never  met  with 
in  the  catacombs,  though  nothing  is  more  common 
on  the  tombs  of  heathen.2 

Moreover,  from  the  first  the  Church  claimed  to 
ordain  slaves  as  deacons,  priests,  and  bishops,  a 
revolution,  silent,  unheralded,  the  full  effect  of  which 
it  is  difficult  to  exaggerate.3  Hitherto  a  slave  had 
been  a  thing,  scarcely  human.  '  Implements,'  writes 
Varro,  '  are  of  three  kinds ;  vocal,  including  slaves, 
semi-vocal,  e.g.  oxen,  and  dumb,  for  instance  ploughs.' 4 

esto;  Hoc  volo,  sic  jubeo,  sit  pro  ratione  voluntas.'  Clement  of 
Alexandria,  in  his  humane  views,  represents  not  only  the  effect  of 
Christianity,  but  of  philosophy.  The  more  humane  treatment  of 
slaves  was  largely  due  to  Stoic  teaching.  See  Wallon  o.c.  iii  cc. 
1  and  2,  for  the  influence  of  philosophy  upon  Koman  legislation. 

1  Instit.  v  16. 

2  Allard  o.c.  236-7.     See  Le  Blant  ICG  i  119-20  for  the  rare 
exceptions  in  Gaul.    The  matter  cannot  be  as  accidental  as  Harnack 
EC  i  208,  n.,  hints. 

3  In  addition  to  Callistus,  we  have  the  case  of  Pius,  Bishop  of  Rome, 
140-155  (Duchesne  LP  i  132  n.  4),  who  appears  to  have  been  a  slave, 
i.e.  if  he  was  the  brother  of  Hermas,  the  author  of  the  Shepherd  (see 
Muratorian  fragment  in  Westcott  Canon  N.T.  537  and  infra  p.  220). 
Pliny's  deaconesses  were  also  slaves  (infra  p.  211  n.).   Before  ordination 
to  the  priesthood  slaves  had  to  be  freed.     See  Apost.  Constit.  viii  82, 
and  the  80th  canon  of  the  Synod  of  Elvira  (c.  300)  'ut  liberti, 
quorum  patroni  in  seculo  fuermt'  ("freedmen  whose  owners  are  still 
alive,"  Dale  8E  80,  339).    For  the  history  of  slaves  and  the  priest- 
hood, see  Allard  o.c.  225-35. 

*  Varro  de  Re  rust,  i  17, 1. 


152        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

Now,  in  the  language  of  a  growing  sacerdotalism, 
this  '  implement,'  that  could  be  bought  on  the  market 
for  less  than  £20,*  could  become  the  successor  of  the 
Apostles,  or,  in  the  words  of  Ignatius,  the  represen- 
tative of  the  Lord  Himself.  That  Callistus,  Bishop 
of  Eome,  had  been  a  slave,  whatever  be  the  truth,  or 
otherwise,  as  to  his  faults,  marks  a  new  era  in  the 
history  of  humanity  not  without  its  parallel  in  the 
case  of  Epictetus,  the  slave-apostle  of  Stoicism.  But 
this  higher  law  of  love,  this  conception  of  the  slave 
not  only  as  a  brother  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  sat  side 
by  side  at  the  same  agape,  or  partook  of  the  same 
loaf  and  cup  at  the  Lord's  Supper,  but  as  a  leader  in 
the  Church,  responsible  to  God  for  the  souls  of  his 
flock,  could  hardly  fail  to  arouse  suspicion  and  mis- 
understanding. Eoman  governors,  conscious  of  the 
vast  slave  populations,  were  ever  anxious  lest  there 
should  be  a  servile  outbreak.  Heathen  legatees 
would  scarcely  view  with  approval  a  familia  which 
they  found  leavened  through  and  through  with  the 
freedom  of  Christ.  In  a  few  instances  also  the  new 
doctrines  might  lead  to  the  alterations  of  wills,  and 
the  bequeathing  of  slaves  out  of  the  family  to  members 
of  the  same  Church.  In  any  case  the  master,  of 
whom  Tertullian  tells  us,  who,  directly  that  he  heard 
that  his  slave  had  become  a  Christian,  sent  him  to 
the  dreaded  ergastulum,  or  slaves'  work-prison,  would 
not  be  alone  in  his  fear  or  cruelty.2 

1  For  the  prices  of  slaves,  see  two  chapters  in  Wallon,  or,  briefly, 

Allard  o.c.  16.    An  ordinary  female  slave,  e.g.  Blandina,  was  worth  £8 

8  Tert.  ad  Nat.  4;  cf.  Arnobius  ii  5.     As  an  illustration  of  how 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATBED  153 

Nor  can  there  be  reasonable  doubt  that  the  early 
Church,  apart  altogether  from  questions  of  slavery, 
was  saturated  through  and  through  with  Ebionite 
conceptions.  In  some  writers  poverty  was  as  much 
the  essential  mark  of  the  Christian  as  it  afterwards 
became  of  the  spiritual  Franciscans.1  Wealth  was  one 
of  the  things  of  the  world  which  it  was  the  Christian's 
business  to  renounce,  though,  alas,  complete  renun- 
ciation could  only  be  achieved  by  the  few.  For  the 
higher  orders  of  the  ministry,  however,  poverty  was 
considered  absolutely  essential.2  All  this  would  lend 
colour  to  the  charge  of  anarchism  under  which,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  Christians  were  condemned. 

A  further  cause  of  suspicion,  not,  it  is  true,  of 
much  importance,  would  be  found  in  the  views  of 
many  Christians  as  to  the  fate  of  the  world,  including 
their  neighbours.3  The  Church  in  the  second  century 

Christianity  would  work  in  this  matter,  take  the  case  of  Sabina,  who 
fled  from  her  mistress  to  the  deacon  Pionius  of  Smyrna,  and  to  avoid 
detection  changed  her  name,  on  Pionius'  advice,  to  Theodote  (Gebhardt 
AMS  103). 

1  E.g.  Hennas  Shep.  S.  i ;  ix  20.     (The  plea  that  this  was  the 
work  of  a  Christian  slave  of  Gnostic  tendencies  is  counterbalanced  by 
its  wide  acceptance  by  all  ranks  in  the  Church.    See  infra  pp.  220 
and  154  n.  3.)    See  also  Lucian  PP  13. 

2  DidacM  xi  4-6  (of.  Matt,  x  9,  10) ;  Euseb.  HE  iii  37. 

3  Illustrations  are  too  numerous  to  quote.    The  following  are 
amongst  the  most  striking:  Justin  M.  II  Apol.  cc.  7,  9;   Sibylline 
Oracles  viii  55  ft.  (most  important) ;  Cyprian  ad  Demet.  22 ;  Tertullian 
passim,  e.g.  de  Spectac.  30 ;  Apol.  42 ;  de  Idol.  13 ;  Lactantius  Instil. 
Div.  vii  15  ff. ;  Mimic.  Felix  Oct.  35.    Our  Lord's  warning  as  to  the 
tower  of  Siloam  was  often  forgotten.    Cf.  Tert.  ad  Scap.  3,  and 
especially  Lactantius  De  mort.  Persecutorum  passim ;  and  see  Kenan 
EC  298,  n. 

The  existing   parousian    literature  in  my  judgement  is  but  a 


154        PERSECUTION  IN  THE   EARLY  CHURCH 

believed  that  the  world  lay  in  the  grip  of  the  Evil  One, 
and  that  it  was  fast  hastening  to  its  doom  of  '  blood 
and  fire.' l  The  Christian  watchword  was  still,  as  in 
the  first  century,  Maran  Atha,  "the  Lord  is  at 
hand."  a  Their  wandering  '  prophets  ' 3 — an  order  in 
the  Church  which  died  out  after  the  second  century, 
to  reappear  in  sundry  forms  in  modern  Nonconformity 
— made  this  theme,  in  especial,  the  basis  of  their 
sermons.  Many  seem  to  have  gloried  (at  least  that 
was  the  impression  produced  upon  the  heathen)  in 
the  retribution  so  speedily  to  come  upon  the  world. 
No  doubt  some  of  their  utterances — illustrations  may 
be  found  in  the  Christian  Sibylline  Oracles — were  as 
indiscreet  as  have  been  the  utterances  on  this  matter 


fraction  of  that  which  existed  in  the  second  century,  before  the 
discredit  of  the  order  of  '  prophets.'  This  the  Church  gladly  allowed 
to  become  lost  when  it  made  the  discovery  that  the  early  Millenarian 
theology  was  not  correct  in  fact.  Of  such  literature,  perhaps  the  most 
striking  is  the  "  chaotic  wilderness  "  of  the  Jewish-Christian  Sibylline 
Oracles,  which  Celsus  (Orig.  Gels,  vii  53,  56)  charged  the  Christians 
with  forging  or  interpolating.  In  part,  these  are  undoubtedly 
Christian,  e.g.  books  vi,  vii,  viii  (in  viii  217  ff.  there  is  the  acrostic 
t'x0tk)>  and  possibly  i,  ii,  xi-xiv.  Others  are  Jewish.  Good  eds. 
Alexandre  (Paris,  1841-56,  or  2nd  ed.  1869,  with  excursuses  omitted) 
or  Friedlieb,  1852.  Best  of  all  is  the  new  edition  by  Gcffcken9 
(Leipzig,  1902).  See  also  Schiirer  JPC  iii  (2)  271-292.  The  Christian 
Sibyl  still  lives  in  Thomas  of  Celano's  famous  line,  '  Teste  David 
cum  Sibylla,'  "See  fulfilled  the  prophet's  warning."  Read  also 
August.  Civ.  Dei  xviii  23. 

1  Herm.  Sliep.  V.  iv.  3  (the  whole  of  this  Vision  should  be  read). 

2  Didache'^  6 ;  1  Cor.  xvi  22.    Cf.  infra  pp.  232-3. 

8  For  'prophets'  the  student  should  consult  Lindsay  CJi.  and 
Ministry  90  ff. ;  Harnack  Ency.  Brit,  xix  822;  Allen  Christian 
Instits.  54  ff.  DB  i  434  ff.,  EB  3883  ff.,  or  Selwyn  CP ;  Swete  Apoc. 
xiii  ff.  Montanism  was  really  the  protest  against  their  suppression. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED         155 

of  fanatics  in  later  ages.1  Celsus,  for  instance, 
naturally  complains  of  the — 

'many  who  roam  like  tramps  through  cities  and  camps  .  .  .  and 
commit  to  everlasting  fire  cities  and  lands  and  their  inhabitants 
.  .  .  mixing  up  their  mighty  threats  with  half-crazy  and  perfectly 
senseless  words,  which  every  fool  applies  to  suit  his  own  purpose.' 3 

Impostors,  from  whom  the  Church  in  every  century 
has  suffered  many  things,  were  foremost,  as  was 
natural,  in  these  exaggerations  and  half  truths.  We 
see  this  in  the  case  of  Proteus  Peregrinus,  who  seems 
to  have  passed  as  a  '  prophet.' 3  By  these  impostors, 
too  often  beggars  in  disguise,  would  the  Church  be 
judged  by  outsiders,  as  it  was  by  Lucian  and  Celsus. 
The  effect  of  this  preaching  of  retribution  by 
means  of  terrific  images  regarded  as  actual  realities 
would  vary  with  different  classes.  The  cultured,  whose 
ideal  was  that  of  Vergil :  '  Happy  the  man  who  has 
placed  beneath  his  feet  fears  and  inexorable  fate  and 
the  roar  of  greedy  Hell,' 4  would  look  on  it  with  loath- 
ing as  a  return  to  those  horrors  of  superstition  from 
which  Lucretius  had  sought  to  deliver  mankind  by 
means  of  his  great  sceptical  poem.  '  The  Crucified,' 

1  Cf.  Milman    Xty.  ii  125,    "these  dangerous  and  injudicious 
effusions  of  zeal,"  &c. 

2  Orig.  Cels.  vii  9,  11 ;  a  very  important  passage.    In  ib.  iii  16 
Celsus  charges  the  Christians  with  'inventing  terrors.' 

3  The  Didacltf  c  xi  (cf.  I  John  iv  1-3)  supplies  tests  for  impostor 
prophets,  which  shows  how  common  they  were  in  the  early  second 
century.     'No  prophet  when  he  ordereth  a  meal  (rp&irtfav)  in  the 
spirit  shall  eat  of  it ;  otherwise  he  is  a  false  prophet,'  &c.    Prophets 
who  settled  down  in  a  place  were  to  be  supported  with  the  first  of 
a  baking  of  bread,  of  a  jar  of  oil  or  wine,  &c.  (ib.  c.  xiii). 

«  Gcorg.  ii  490-2. 


156        PERSECUTION   IN  THE   EARLY  CHURCH 

they  said,  'repels  all  gladness ' 1— ' Tantum  religio 
potuit  suadere  malorum.'  The  followers  of  Epicurus, 
with  their  profound  belief  in  a  morningless  and  un- 
awakening  sleep,  would  disdain  teacher  and  teaching 
alike.  Said  Tertullian : 

*  We  get  ourselves  laughed  at  for  proclaiming  that  God  will  one 
day  judge  the  world,  though,  like  us,  poets  and  philosophers  set  up  a 
judgement-seat  in  the  world  below.  And  if  we  threaten  Gehenna,  a 
reservoir  of  secret  fire  under  the  earth  for  purposes  of  punishment,  we 
have  derision  heaped  upon  us '  (Apol.  47). 

To  the  vulgar  the  dread  of  Tartarus,  '  with  its  vistas 
of  rivers  of  fire  and  stygian  cliffs  ...  of  spectres 
mowing  at  us  with  terrible  faces/  was  still  a  living 
reality;  and  the  preaching  cf  the  Christians  was 
not  without  its  results.  But,  broadly  speaking, 
the  gloomy  Millenarianism  of  much  second-century 
Christianity  could  not  fail  to  arouse  hatred  and 
suspicion.  Nor  would  it  lessen  the  offence  that  the 
doom  of  the  heathen  would  usher  in  the  reign  of  the 
saints,  'the  coming  age  in  which  the  elect  of  God 
shall  dwell.' 2 

1  Ruinart  AM  75,  case  of  Epipodius  and  Alexander  at  Lyons  in 
178.  Framework  genuine.   Cf,  Plutarch  Moralia  §  160.   In  a  Phrygian 
inscription  an  Epicurean  calls  the  Christian  views  'death  in  life* 
(Ramsay  GBP  i  477).     Cf.  Irenaeus'  fragment  quoted  by  John  of 
Damascus  Parallela,  'The  business  of  the  Christian  is  to  be  ever 
preparing  to  die '  (Migne  PG  vii  1234). 

2  Hernias  Sliep.  Vis.  iv  3.    The  Shepherd  is  one  of  the  great  books 
of  the  'prophets.'    So  probably  is  the  Apocalypse,  provided  we  sur- 
render its  apostolic  origin.     See  infra  p.  357. 


THE   CAUSES  OF  HATRED  157 


A  more  important  cause  of  popular  hatred  lay  in 
the  misunderstanding  of  the  nature  of  certain  Chris- 
tian rites  and  ceremonies.  "  The  conviction,"  writes 
Mommsen, 

«'  that  the  Christian  conventicles  were  orgies  of  lewdness,  and  recep- 
tacles of  every  crime,  got  hold  on  the  popular  mind  with  all  the  terrible 
vehemence  of  an  aversion  that  resists  all  arguments  and  heeds  not 
refutation." 

In  part  these  charges  were  due  to  Christian  secrecy, 
a  necessary  result  of  the  aloofness  or  renunciation 
which  underlay  their  faith.  Of  this  secrecy  or  aloof- 
ness, and  the  jealousy  with  which  it  was  guarded, 
we  have  an  extreme  instance,  if  Chrysostom  is  to 
be  trusted,  in  the  case  of  Babylas  of  Antioch,  who 
endured  martyrdom  rather  than  allow  the  Emperor 
Decius  to  intrude  upon  the  privacy  of  his  congrega- 
tion.1 We  need  not  be  surprised  at  the  result.  That 
which  is  secret,  as  Caecilius  pointed  out  to  Minucius 
Felix,  always  lies  under  the  suspicion  of  being  the 
abominable.2  In  part,  also,  the  charges  were  due  to  the 

1  This  story  (A.SS  Sept.  iv  439),  though  very  doubtful  (see  Lightf. 
Ign.  i  40,  n.,  and  Euseb.  HE  vi  34,  who  refers  it  to  his  compelling  the 
Emperor  Philip  to  penitence,  see  infra  p.  242)  is  at  least  a  proof  of 
"  tendency  "  in  the  Church.    For  his  date  see  infra  p.  329.    The  case 
of  Tarsicius  (temp.  Valerian),  a  young  acolyte  who  was  carrying  the 
Sacrament  to  some  confessors,  and  who  was  slain  by  the  soldier 
because  he  would  not  reveal  his  burden,  is  more  historical  (Damasus 
in  Migne  PL  xiii  392,  Northcote  US  i  153). 

2  These  tales  were  largely  due  to  the  Jews  (supra,  p.  119,  n.).   But 
they  were  widely  held,  e.g.  by  Fronto  of  Cirta,  the  tutor  of  Marcus 


158         PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

misunderstanding  or  distortion  of  Christian  phrases. 
The  "  kiss  of  peace  "  which  St.  Paul  had  instituted, 
and  which  long  continued  a  factor  in  the  life  of  the 
Western  Church,  both  lent  itself  to  licentious  inter- 
pretations, and,  as  Clement  of  Alexandria  owns,  was 
put  to  wrong  uses  by  some  who  '  do  nothing  but  make 
the  Church  resound  with  their  kisses.'  '  See  how 
these  Christians  love  one  another'  may  have  been 
originally  the  sarcasm  of  impure  minds  upon  these 
'  unholy  kisses,  full  of  poison,  counterfeiting  sanctity/ 
wrested  by  Tertullian  to  a  nobler  use.1  The  evening 
agapes — the  title  itself  was  suspicious — were  twisted 

Aurelius.  See  Miuuc.  Felix  Oct.  9,  31,  and  cf.  10  ('why  do  they 
conceal  whatever  they  worship '),  28,  30. 

For  the  charges  against  Christians  of  impurity,  cannibalism,  &c.,  in 
addition  to  the  above,  see  Justin  M.  Dial  c.  Tryph.  10,  17,  108 ;  I  ApoL 
26 ;  II  ApoL  12,  13 ;  Tert.  ApoL  2,  4,  7,  8,  39 ;  Athenagoras  Plea  3, 
with  which  compare  the  identical  charges  brought  against  the  Chris- 
tians at  Lyons  (Euseb.  HE  v  i) ;  Basilides  in  Clem,  Alex.  Strom,  iv  12. 
Possibly  also  Apuleius  Metam.  ix.  14  hints  at  the  same  thing. 

Some  have  considered  the  title  of  genus  tertium  applied  to  the 
Christians  (infra,  p.  190,  n.)  to  refer  to  their  supposed  unnatural  lusts. 
But  on  this  see  Harnack  EO  i  347,  n,,  who  rightly  rejects  the  idea.  I 
incline  to  regard  all  these  stories  as  originating  in  primitive  cults 
and  folk-lore.  The  triumph  of  Christianity  merely  transferred  them  to 
other  objects.  See  Lea  Inquisition  in  M.A.  iii  c.  7  on  "  The  Sabbat "  for 
reproduction  in  mediaeval  times.  From  Apuleius  Metam.  viii  cc.  27, 28 
we  see  that  the  heathen  merely  shouldered  upon  the  Christians  some 
of  the  moral  horrors  of  the  day  that  lingered  on  in  ruder  districts. 

1  Tert.  ApoL  39.  For  the  "kiss"  and  its  dangers  see  Justin  I 
ApoL  65  (precedes  the  Eucharist);  Clem.  Alex.  Paed.  iii  11  end; 
Athenag.  Plea  32  (source  of  his  quotation  unknown) ;  Orig.  471  Kom. 
x  33.  According  to  Tert.  de  Orat.  18  it  was  a  part  of  all  common 
prayer.  It  is  still  in  use  in  the  Greek  Church.  There  is,  as  it  were, 
the  rudimentary  organ  in  the  Anglican  Liturgy  in  the  words  "  Peace  be 
with  you,"  which  immediately  preceded  the  kiss  (see  Apost.  Comtit. 
viii  11).  See  also  Duchesne  Christian  Worship  (E,T.)  211  ff. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  159 

into  scenes  of  unbridled  lust,  at  which  '  the  dogs,  our 
friends  forsooth !  overturn  the  lamps,  and  ohtain  for 
us  the  shamelessness  of  darkness/  'Three  things/ 
writes  Athenagoras, '  are  alleged  against  us :  Atheism, 
Thyestean  feasts,  Oedipodean  intercourse,' — in  other 
words,  cannibalism  and  incest — *  If  these  things  are 
true,  spare  none  of  us.  And  because  the  people 
thought  they  were  true  they  spared  but  few  when 
the  fury  seized  them. 

The  charge  of  cannibalism  was  the  result  of  a 
misunderstanding  of  the  Christian  Sacraments.  The 
carrying  of  infants  to  the  house  of  prayer  to  obtain 
Baptism  was  twisted,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Jews  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  into  a  horrible  design,  mixed  up  in 
popular  imagination  with  the  Eucharist,  the  bread  of 
which  was  supposed  to  be  used  '  to  collect  the  gushing 
blood'  of  the  babes.  For  us  the  language  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  hallowed  by  nineteen  hundred  years 
of  association,  has  lost  its  original  and  startling 
daring.  'Except  ye  eat  My  flesh  and  drink  My 
blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  yourselves '  would  sound 
more  than  strange  to  heathen  ears.  To  Porphyry, 
by  no  means  an  unfair  critic,  it  seemed 

trivial  and  absurd,  surpassing  all  absurdity  and  trivial  coarseness,  for 
a  man  to  eat  human  flesh  and  drink  the  blood  of  his  fellow-tribesman 
or  relative,  and  thereby  win  eternal  life.  Tell  me  what  greater  coarse- 
ness could  you  introduce  into  life,  if  you  practise  that  habit  ?  What 
crime  will  you  start  more  accursed  than  this  loathsome  profligacy  ? 
[Then  follows  Thyestes  and  his  meals,  &c.,  the  Scythians,  who  eat  lice, 
but  are  not  cannibals,  &c.  Porphyry  continues]  What,  then,  does  this 
saying  mean  ?  For  even  though  it  were  meant  to  be  taken  in  a  mystical 
Oi  Allegorical  sense,  still  the  mere  sound  of  the  words  grates  inevitably 


160        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

on  the  soul  and  makes  it  rebel  against  a  loathsome  saying  .  .  .  un- 
suitable and  alien  to  the  habits  of  a  noble  life.'  > 

The  Christian  apologist  might  have  pleaded  that 
other  religions  had  their  mysteries  and  yet  escaped 
persecution.  Suspicion  in  the  case  of  all  mysteries 
was  inevitable,  in  fact,  one  of  the  charms  which  made 
initiation  so  sought  after  by  a  blase  society.  The 
worship  of  Cybele  and  Mithra,  for  instance,  had  its 
taurobolium.  To  the  Fathers  of  the  Church  this 
seemed  a  travesty  of  the  Cross ; 2  but  in  its  origin  it 
goes  back  to  times  before  Calvary.  The  rite  took 
place,  as  a  rule,  in  early  spring,  and  was  often 
prolonged  for  two  or  three  days.  Only  seventeen 
years  before  the  massacre  of  the  Christians  at  Lyons 
(177)  there  had  been  a  great  taurobolium  at  this 
capital  of  Gaul,  the  record  of  which  is  still  preserved 
for  us.3  The  ceremony  was  superintended  by  the 
magistrates,  and  attended  by  a  vast  crowd  of  people. 
With  many  solemn  forms  the  consecrated  bull  was 
lifted  on  to  a  platform  and  slaughtered.  Meanwhile 
the  devotees  were  placed  in  a  trench  beneath,  that 
they  might  bathe  in  the  streams  of  blood  and  thus 
obtain  strength  and  purification.  The  effect  of  this 
sacrament  was  supposed  to  last  for  twenty  years 

1  Porphyry,  Hierocles  (infra  p.  268),  or  whoever  is  the  sceptic,  in 
Macarius  Magnes  Apocritica  iii  15.  (See  DCB  iii  767.)  Celsus,  who 
attacked  Christianity  more  from  the  outside,  does  not  seem  to  have 
dwelt  on  this. 

*  Tert.  de  Praescript  40. 

3  Discovered  at  Fourviere  (Lyons)  in  1704.  See  plates  in  Duruy 
HR  v  166,  704.  Note  how  the  first  line  shows  the  taurobolium 
legalized  by  association  with  the  Great  Mother. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  161 

without  the  need  of  renewal.  The  devotee  who  died 
in  the  interval  could  engrave  on  his  tomb  the  record 
of  his  cleansing  in  the  phrase,  whose  claims  so  stirred 
the  wrath  of  the  Christians,  renatus  in  sternum,  '  born 
again  to  eternal  life.' 1 

The  taurobolium  was  a  costly  public  function  avail- 
able only  for  the  few.  But  there  were  other  mysteries 
secret  in  their  nature,3  attempts  to  lift  the  veil  of  Isis, 
to  penetrate  by  strange  symbols  and  rites  into  the 
inner  secret  of  Pantheism.  '  What  I  saw  there,' 
writes  one  of  these  initiates,  Apuleius,  who  for  once 
ceases  to  be  a  mere  sensualist — 

'  I  would  tell  if  it  were  lawful  ...  I  trode  the  confines  of  death  and 
the  threshold  of  Proserpine.  I  was  swept  round  all  the  elements  and 
returned.  I  beheld  the  sun  at  midnight  shining  with  purest  radiance. 
Gods  of  heaven  and  gods  of  hell  1  I  saw  you  face  to  face  and  adored 
in  presence.' 3 

But  Mithraism,  the  worship  of  Isis,  and  other 
religions  had  all  taken  steps,  as  we  have  seen,  to 
avoid  persecution.  The  mysteries  of  the  Christians, 
on  the  other  hand,  were  the  secrets  of  men  who  would 
not  stoop  to  secure  either  official  sanction  or  popular 
support,  but  who  yet,  by  the  very  necessities  of  their 
religion  and  its  mission,  were  aggressive,  perhaps  at 
times  imprudent,  enthusiasts. 

This  imprudent  aggression  especially  manifested 
itself  in  frequent  'atheistic*  attacks  upon  heathen 

1  See  instances  of  this  phrase  in  Le  Blant  ICO  ii  71-2. 

9  Of.  Tert.  de  Cor.  15;  Justin  Dial.  Try  ph.  70 ;  I  Apol  66.  Then 
is  a  curious  account  of  one  in  Orig.  Gels,  vi  22.  For  the  mysteries 
themselves,  see  Cumont  TM  i  320  ff.,  334-5. 

*  See  Apuleius  Metam.  xi  cc.  11,  24. 

M 


162        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

temples  and  ritual,  in  themselves  sufficient  explana- 
tion of  the  persecuting  fury  of  the  mob.  '  If  you  will 
give  me  leave,'  said  Symphorian  of  Autun  to  the 
judge,  '  I  should  like  to  smash  this  image  of  a  devil 
with  a  mallet.' 1  In  spite  of  the  official  discourage- 
ment of  the  Church,2  the  spirit  of  Symphorian 
animated  the  more  stalwart  of  its  adherents.  A  few 
illustrations  will  show  how  this  issued  in  martyrdom. 
We  may  take  the  case  of  Leo  of  Patara,  an  aged 
ascetic  of  Asia  Minor,  whose  friend  Paregorius  had 
suffered  death  in  the  persecution  of  Decius. 

'  Now  it  happened  in  those  days  that  the  proconsul  Lollianus 
came  to  Patara  and  celebrated  the  feast  of  Serapis,  taking  occasion 
against  the  Christians  and  compelling  all  to  sacrifice  to  idols.  And 
when  many  were  hastening  to  the  temple  Leo  withdrew  in  indignation 
to  the  place  where  rested  the  bones  of  the  blessed  martyr  Paregorius. 
There  he  poured  out  his  wonted  supplications  and  returned  home, 
wrapped  in  the  thought  of  the  glorious  deeds  of  his  friend.  After  a 
while  he  fell  asleep  and  dreamed  a  dream.  He  thought  that  he  saw  a 
mighty  storm,  and  a  raging  torrent,  with  Paregorius  and  himself  in 
the  midst  of  the  floods,  for  he  found  it  not  difficult  to  reach  Paregorius. 
When  he  awoke  he  set  out  at  once  for  the  burial-place  of  his  friend, 
nor  would  he  choose  a  quiet  road,  but  the  one  which  lay  through  the 
midst  of  the  market.  And  when  he  came  to  the  temple  (of  Fortune) 
and  saw  the  lanterns  and  tapers  burning  before  the  shrine,  he  tore 
down  the  lanterns  with  his  hands,  and  trampled  the  tapers  beneath 
his  feet,  crying  out  the  while :  "  If  you  think  the  gods  have  any  power 
let  them  defend  themselves." ' 

1  AM  79  ff. ;  about  A.D.  179,  probably  on  Aug.  22.    The  framework 
seems  genuine  (Conybeare  MEG  12-13,  Duchesne  FEG  ii  153,  as 
against  Aube'  PE  387).    The  persecution  was  a  backwash  of  that  at 
Lyons  in  177.    (See  infra  p.  295  f.) 

2  Synod  of  Elvira  canon  60  (see  infra  p.  180  n.).    For  the  effect  of 
these  mockeries  on  heathen,  see  Orig.  Cel8._vii  62,  viii  38,  41 ;  Minuc. 
Felix  Oct.  8.    For  illustrations  cf.  Prudentiua  Pertoteph.  Hi  126  f. ; 
Conybeare  MEG  197. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED         163 

The  inevitable  result  followed.  On  his  return  to 
the  city — for  the  outrage  would  seem  to  have  taken 
place  very  early  in  the  morning — Leo  was  arrested. 
To  the  charges  brought  against  him  Leo's  only  answer 
was  a  somewhat  irrelevant  lecture  to  the  judge  on 
the  doctrines  of  Christianity.  Taking  pity  on  his 
white  hairs,  Lollianus  offered  to  forgo  the  act  of 
sacrifice  if  only  Leo  would  repeat  after  him  the  words, 
"  Great  are  the  gods."  'Yes,'  replied  the  old  man, 
'  great  in  destroying  the  souls  of  those  who  believe  in 
them.'  At  length  the  patience  of  Lollianus  gave 
way.  He  sentenced  Leo  to  be  dragged  to  the  top  of 
a  high  rock  and  pitched  into  the  torrent  which  flowed 
through  the  town.  *  But  that  brave  athlete  of  Christ,' 
worn  out  with  the  lashings,  died  on  the  way.1 

Even  when  innocent  of  actual  outrage  on  the 
temples  or  rites  the  Christians  at  times  acted  almost 
as  indiscreetly.  We  may  instance  Eomanus,  a  deacon 
and  exorcist  of  Antioch,  who  tried  to  stop  a  heathen 
procession.  For  this  he  was  condemned  by  Galerius 
to  lose  his  tongue  (Nov.  17,  303).2 

The  ease  of  Theodore  the  Tiro  or  recruit,  sympa- 
thetically related  for  us  by  Gregory  of  Nyssa,3  was  of 

1  Ruinart  AM  545-8.     Date  unknown,  probably  persecution  of 
Valerian  (see  Healy  VP  248  n.).     His  day  (Feb.  18)  is    a  mere 
confusion  with  that  of  Pope  Leo  the  Great.    From  AM  547  we  see 
the  Jews  were  to  the  front  in  securing  his  condemnation. 

2  Euseb.  MP  2 ;  Mason  DP  188. 

3  Gregory  Nyssa  Oratio  de  TlieoJoro  Martyre  in  Migne  PG  Opera 
iii  735-48,  delivered  at  the  opening  of  his  magnificent  memorial  at 
Euchaites.     I  do  not  believe  Gregory's  statement  about  the  bribes 
offered  the  incendiary  by  the  judges  ('nobility,  priesthood,'  &c.). 
Roman  governors  were  not  made  of  this  sort.    The  statement  is  on  a 


164       PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

a  more  daring  order.  Arrested  for  his  Christianity, 
he  was  brought  before  the  authorities  of  Amasea,  the 
capital  of  Pontus.  When  asked  why  he  would  not 
sacrifice,  the  rough  enthusiast  replied — 

'  I  know  nothing  of  your  gods.  They  'don't  exist.  You  are  wrong  in 
calling  seducing  impostors  of  devils  by  the  name  of  gods.  My  God  is 
Christ,  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God,' 

An  officer  with  a  reputation  for  wit  mockingly  asked 
him :  '  How  is  it,  Theodore,  your  God  has  a  Son  ?  ' 
Theodore  replied  by  a  quotation  from  his  Catechism, 
that  would  be  perfectly  unintelligible  to  the  by- 
standers, then  happily  retorted  upon  his  questioner 
by  asking  him  about  the  favourite  cult  of  Amasea, 
the  worship  of  the  Great  Mother.  The  authorities, 
pleased  with  his  readiness,  gave  him  a  little  time  for 
'reconsidering  his  insanity.'  Theodore  used  his 
reprieve  for  a  different  purpose.  That  night  he  set 
on  fire  the  temple  of  the  Great  Mother.  Building  and 
statue  were  alike  reduced  to  ashes.  Theodore  made 
no  attempt  to  escape,  but  boldly  proclaimed  the  deed. 
His  defence  before  the  magistrates  was  an  impossible 
assertion  of  the  individualistic  standpoint.  He  was 
condemned  to  be  burnt,  and  '  so  passed  to  God  by  a 

par  with  Gregory's  description  of  the  angels  that  visited  his  cell 
during  the  night.  His  great  popularity  (see  Moschus  Pratum 
Spirituals  180  in  Migne  PL  Ixxiv  211)  was  due  to  the  fact  that  Ma 
memorial  at  Euchaites  was  opened  just  after  a  threatened  invasion  of 
Scythians  into  Pontus  had  been  averted,  as  it  was  thought,  by  his 
prayers.  In  1256  the  Venetians  brought  his  body  to  Venice.  This 
record  will  serve  as  a  fair  specimen  of  hagiology  (cf.  Conybeare  MEG 
220,  DCB  iv  956,  and  Ruinart  AM  480  ff.,  who,  however,  gives  not 
the  Greek  but  only  a  Latin  translation  of  Gregory).  Date  308  :  see 
Mason  PD  284  n. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATEED  165 

splendid  road,'  singing  as  he  went :  "  I  will  bless  the 
Lord  at  all  times ;  His  praise  shall  continually  be  in 
my  mouth." 


VI 

The  governing  classes  persecuted  Christianity 
because  they  saw  clearly  its  political  danger;  the 
lower  classes  had  an  intense  hatred  for  the  new 
religion,  because  it  was  a  thing  apart.  The  two 
causes  were  in  reality  one ;  ignorance  and  imperial- 
ism were  united  in  their  hatred  of  the  individualistic 
spirit.  'The  language  of  sedition/  said  Celsus,  'is 
only  used  by  those  who  separate  and  stand  aloof 
from  the  society  of  their  fellows.' l  The  Christians 
were  a  peculiar  people,  with  peculiar  views  of  their 
own.  Though,  unlike  the  philosophers,  they  wore  no 
distinctive  garb — unless,  indeed,  absence  of  ostenta- 
tion be  counted  a  garb  2 — in  this  world,  they  were  yet 
not  of  the  world.  'We  are  supposed,'  writes  Ter- 
tullian,  '  to  live  aloof  from  crowds.' 3  Their  oppo- 
nents, it  is  true,  phrased  the  matter  differently :  '  a 
people  who  skulk  and  shun  the  light  of  day,  silent  in 
public,  but  garrulous  in  their  holes  and  corners ; ' 
'  people  who  separate  themselves  and  break  away  from 

1  Orig.  Gels,  viii  2. 

2  Clem.  Alex.  Paed.  ii  10-iii  3;;  iii  11.    Tert.  On  the  Dress  of  Women 
passim.  Justin,  after  his  conversion,  continued  to  wear  the  philoso- 
pher's napless  cloak.     So  also  Aristides  (infra  p.  216  and  App.  G). 

3  Tert.  Apol.  31, '  licet  extranei  a  turbis  aestimemur '  mistranslated 
in  Clark's  ANL  as  «*  we  are  not  thought  to  be  given  to  disorder." 
For  the  charge  of  aloofness  see  also  Tert.  Apol.  42  and  infra  p.  168. 


166        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

the  rest  of  mankind.' l  Their  very  titles  among  them- 
selves were  peculiar,  a  sign  of  this  *  breaking  away/ 
a  barbarous  jargon  of  their  own — '  little  fish,'  *  the 
new-born,'  'the  newly  caught/  and  the  like.2  Nor 
could  the  conscientious  Christian  save  himself  from 
thrusting  forward  his  peculiarities  before  a  society 
which  had  surrounded  every  act  of  life  with  pagan 
ritual.  For,  as  Milman  has  well  put  it : 

"Paganism  met  him  in  "every  form,  in  every  quarter,  in  every  act 
and  function  of  every  day's  business ;  not  merely  in  the  graver  offices 
of  the  State,  but  in  the  civil  and  military  acts  of  public  men ;  in  the 
senate  which  commenced  its  deliberations  with  sacrifice ;  in  the  camp, 
the  centre  of  which  was  a  consecrated  temple.  The  Pagan's  domestic 
hearth  was  guarded  by  the  Penates,  or  by  the  ancestral  gods  of  his 
family  or  tribe ;  by  land  he  travelled  under  the  protection  of  one 
tutelar  divinity,  by  sea  of  another ;  the  birth,  the  bridal,  the  funeral 
had  each  its  presiding  deity ;  the  very  commonest  household  utensils 
were  cast  in  mythological  forms ;  he  could  scarcely  drink  without 
being  reminded  of  libations  to  the  gods ;  and  the  language  itself  was 
impregnated  with  constant  allusions  to  the  popular  religion." 3 

That  the  "peculiarity"  of  Christianity  exposed 
its  disciples  to  various  persecutions  needs  no  evi- 
dence. The  same  has  happened  in  every  age  and 
clime,  is  happening  to-day  on  every  mission-field. 
But  when  we  pass  from  this  general  statement  to  par- 
ticulars, when  we  try  to  estimate  the  precise  measure 

1  The  heathen  Caecilius  in  Minucius  Felix  Oct.  8. 

2  'Pisciculi'  (Tert.  Bapt.  1,  'we  little  fish  are  born  in  water'). 
ve6<j)VToi,  passim;  see  also  DCA  ii  1385-6.    vf66-r)poi  (Ramsay  BCP  i 
535).     <f>i\6eeoi  (ib.  i  554  n.).     The  love  of  religious  enthusiasms  for 
new  names  that  really  form  a  sort  of  slang  has  always  been  remark- 
able.   The  little  dictionary  that  Methodism  has  formed  for  itself  is  no 
new  thing. 

*  Milman  i  427  and  cf.  Tert.  de  Spectao.  o,  8  fin,  Gibbon  ii  16-18. 


THE  CAU8E8  OF  HATRED         167 

of  "  peculiarity,"  and  the  precise  effect  of  the  spirit 
of  aloofness  upon  the  daily  life  of  the  Church,  we  are 
met  with  difficulties.  Writers  of  diverse  schools 
have  too  often  idealized  the  early  Church,  in  forget- 
fulness  of  the  exact  parallel  furnished  by  modern 
work  among  the  heathen.  Then,  as  now,  many 
Christians  brought  with  them  into  their  new  religion 
the  habits  and  faults  of  their  old  life.  Only  the  more 
stalwart  succeeded  in  disengaging  themselves  com- 
pletely from  their  pagan  environment.  The  ordinary 
converts  did  not,  as  a  rule,  alter  the  outward  appear- 
ance of  their  lives ;  nor  did  they,  for  that  matter, 
supply  the  martyrs  with  whose  records  we  are  deal- 
ing. But  when  we  leave  the  unknown  multitude  of 
average  and  probably  somewhat  commonplace  con- 
verts,1 and  turn  to  the  leaders  and  teachers  of  the 
Church,  our  perplexities  are  by  no  means  at  an  end. 
Even  stalwarts  must  live,  and  to  some  extent  conform 
to  the  usages  of  society.  Where  to  draw  the  line  was 
a  matter  of  debate,  upon  which  the  Church  was  hope- 
lessly divided.  Then,  as  now,  there  were  two  parties ; 
the  one,  which  for  lack  of  a  better  term  we  may  call 
the  Puritan,  making  up  for  the  fewness  of  its  numbers 
by  dogmatism  and  devotion ;  the  other,  probably  the 
more  cultured,  certainly  the  more  influential,  but 
hampered  by  the  lack  of  logic  and  utterance  so  gene- 
rally characteristic  of  the  via  media.  A  few,  if  we 
may  judge  from  their  writings,  tried  to  belong  to  both 

1  For  these  average  converts  "  who  are  not  represented  to  us  in 
Christian  literature,  except  when  their  errors  have  to  be  castigated," 
the  best  guide  are  sepulchral  inscriptions,  e.g.  Ramsay  GBP  c.  12; 
Le  Blant  ICG  passim  ;  de  Rossi  1CUR  passim. 


168        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

parties,  and  to  prove  that  there  was  really  no  differ- 
ence between  the  two  views.  Of  these  last  the  most 
eloquent  and  persuasive  is  the  anonymous  author  of 
the  well-known  Epistle  to  Diognetus.1  The  writer,  in 
an  oft-quoted  passage,  pleads  that 

'  Christians  are  not  distinguished  from  the  rest  of  mankind  either 
in  locality  or  in  speech  or  in  customs.  For  they  dwell  not  some- 
where in  cities  of  their  own,  neither  do  they  use  some  different 
language,  nor  practise  an  extraordinary  ^irapdffrj/j.ov')  manner  of  life. 
But  while  they  dwell  in  cities  of  Greeks  and  barbarians,  as  the  lot  of 
each  is  cast,  and  follow  the  native  customs  in  dress,  food,  and  the  other 
arrangements  of  life,  yet  the  constitution  of  their  own  citizenship 
which  they  set  forth  is  marvellous,  and  confessedly  contradicts 
expectation.  They  dwell  in  their  own  countries,  but  only  as 
sojourners.  They  bear  their  share  in  all  things  as  citizens,  and  they 
endure  all  hardships  as  strangers.  Every  foreign  country  is  a 
fatherland  to  them,  and  every  fatherland  is  foreign.* 

1  Ep.  Diognetus  c.  5.  We  owe  the  incomplete  text  of  this  Epistle 
to  a  single  14th  century  MS.  which  perished  in  the  burning  of  the 
Strassburg  library  during  the  Franco-German  war  of  1870.  This 
letter  was  formerly  ascribed  to  Justin  Martyr,  with  whose  works  (e.g. 
in  the  great  edition  of  Otto  1876-80)  it  is  usually  bound  up.  In  DCS 
ii  163  the  author  is  identified  with  a  certain  '  Ambrosius,  a  chief  man 
of  Greece  who  became  a  Christian,  and  all  his  fellow-councillors 
raised  a  clamour  against  him.'  To  this  Ambrose  is  attributed  the 
oration  ad  Grsecos  formerly  assigned  to  Justin.  This  work  also  was 
only  preserved  in  the  same  MS.  as  the  Diognetus.  Others  have 
conjectured  that  its  author  was  the  Alexandrian  Pantaeiius,  the  master 
of  Clement  (180-210),  and  in  some  respects  its  tone  is  not  unlike 
Clement's. 

The  date  is  uncertain.  The  only  Diognetus  of  fame  was  the  paint- 
ing master  who  in  133  so  influenced  the  lad  afterwards  the  Emperor 
Marcus  Aurelius.  This  apology,  for  such  it  virtually  is,  might  well 
be  dedicated  to  him.  In  favour  of  this  is  the  reference  to  the  emperor 
commissioning  his  son  (c.  7),  which  may  allude  to  either  the  adoption 
of  M.  Aurelius  by  Antoninus  Pius  (147),  or  the  association  of 
L.  Aelius  (161)  or  Commodus  (176)  in  the  empire  by  M.  Aurelius. 
But  Harnack  CAL  i  516  inclines  to  date  not  earlier  than  240  and 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  169 

This  matter  of  the  relation  of  the  Christian  to  the 
current  life  of  his  age  is  of  such  importance,  not 
merely  for  the  study  of  martyrdom  and  renunciation 
in  general,  but  for  the  gaining  a  correct  insight 
into  the  inner  life  of  the  Church  of  the  martyrs,  that 
we  propose  to  examine  it  more  fully.  For  in  it 
lay  not  the  least  of  the  causes  of  hatred  and 
persecution. 

We  may  dismiss  at  once  the  extremists  of  both 
types;  those  on  the  one  hand  whose  laxity  of  con- 
viction or  conduct  defended  even  attendance  at  the 
degrading  public  spectacles,  quoting  scripture  to  their 
purpose,1  and  those  who  from  extreme  parousian 
standpoints  made  life  of  any  sort  practically  im- 
possible. The  sincere  Christian  who  tried  to  follow 
the  light,  and  yet  act  out  his  part  as  citizen  and 

to  look  with  favour  on  the  identification  of  its  author  with  Ambrosius, 
the  friend  of  Origen  (infra  p.  241  n.  2). 

I  cannot  concur  in  the  praise  which  has  been  so  abundantly 
lavished  on  this  Epistle  (see  especially  Ep.  Diognetm  in  DCB  ii).  It 
seems  to  me  too  rhetorical  to  give  us  real  information,  while  it  suffers 
from  a  tendency  to  combine  contradictions  and  to  speak  of  them  as 
one.  The  eloquent  passage  quoted  is  an  illustration.  Eead  from 
the  standpoint  of  to-day,  it  is  splendid ;  from  the  standpoint  of  the  age 
when  it  was  written,  it  seems  to  me  the  use  of  language  to  conceal 
difficulties.  Another  illustration  will  be  found  in  its  doctrine  of  tbo 
Atonement  (see  supra  p.  117  n,).  In  his  Fernley  lecture  on  the  Spiritual 
Principle  of  the  Atonement,  p.  424,  Mr.  Scott  Lidgett  rightly  points  out 
"  that  this  epistle  might  stand  with  equal  propriety  at  the  head  of  the 
so-called  moral  doctrines  of  the  Atonement,  and  of  those  who  look  upon 
it  as  a  satisfaction  for  sin."  But  apologies  rarely  reveal  the  real 
man.  The  writer  is  always  thinking  of  his  opponent. 

1  Pseudo-Cyprian  (possibly  Novatian)  de  Spectac.  1-2.  They 
pleaded  David's  dancing,  &c. ;  or  (Tert.  de  Idol.  14)  St.  Paul's  '  even 
as  I  also  please  all  men  in  all  things '  (I  Cor.  x  32-3). 


170        PERSECUTION   IN  THE  EAKLY  CHURCH 

neighbour  found  difficulties  enough  confront  him, 
without  inventing  the  impasses  of  a  rigid  logic. 

Logic  in  fact,  then  as  now,  rarely  formed  the  final 
arbiter  by  whose  decision  the  affairs  of  life  were 
settled.  We  have  an  interesting  illustration  of  this 
in  the  names  of  the  Christian.  The  martyrs  perished 
because  they  declined  to  sacrifice  to  gods  whose  very 
names  they  bore — Apollos,  Apollonius,  Dionysius, 
Hermas,  Saturninus,  Phoebe,  and  the  like.1  Not  until 
the  age  of  persecution  had  ceased  do  Christian  names, 
i.e.  names  from  the  Old  or  New  Testament,  for 
instance  Mary,  begin  to  displace  the  old  heathen 
names.  Even  then  Christians  were  more  frequently 
called  by  the  name  of  some  distinguished  martyr, 
whose  blood  had  washed  it  from  its  original  heathen 
stain.  In  this  matter  "the  general  custom  of  the 
world  in  which  people  were  living  proved  stronger 
than  any  reflections  of  their  own."2  The  early 

1  See  complete  list  in  DCA  ii  1369.     Even  the  name  of  Venus 
(Venerius)  seems  to  occur  (Le  Blant  ICG  ii  117,  407). 

2  On  this  question  of  names  see  Harnack  EG  ii  35-45 ;  DCA  ii 
1367-74 ;  Ramsay  CBP  i  491-4,  533,  565 ;   Le  Blant  ICG  ii  66,  263. 
The  first  step  seems  to  have  been  to  add  a  Christian  title  to  the 
heathen  name,  e.g. '  Ignatius  Theophorus,'  '  Caedualla  qui  et  Petrus ' 
(Bede  HE  v  7),  'Valentina    quae  et  Stephana,'    Na^Swpoy    6  nal 
'ATreXATjs.    Cyprian  added  the  name  Caecilius  from  the  priest  who 
converted  him  (Jerome  de  Vir.  Illust.  67).    But  these  Christian  eke- 
names  were  not  always  engraved  on  the  tombs.    In  many  cases  they 
would  be  assumed  at  baptism  (supra  p.  61  n.).    How  early  this  became 
the  custom  is  shown  by  the  name  of  Cletus,  the  2nd  pope.    O.T. 
names,  except  Susanna,  were  always  rare  in  the  West  (Le  Blant  ICG 
i  145).    Le  Blant  (ib.  i.  147  n.)  also  points  out  that  names  connected 
with  the  sea,    Marina,  Thalasia,  Pelagia,    Navicius,  &c.,  became 
especial  favourites  with  Christians  because  of  their  symbolism.    We 
may  note  also  names  of  joy,  Gaudentius,  Hilaris,  &c.  (Le  Blant  ib.  i 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  171 

Christians,  with  rare  common  sense,  declined  to  strain 
out  the  gnats  while  the  real  problems  and  difficulties 
still  awaited  solution.1  A  public  change  of  name 
would  have  been  a  dangerous  advertisement  of  their 
new  faith.  But  when  prudence  was  no  longer  of  any 
avail,  the  Christians  in  the  fourth  century  often 
changed  their  pagan  names  for  others  more  hallowed 
by  association,  before  they  met  their  death.  'One 
martyr,'  writes  Procopius  of  Gaza,  'called  himself 
Jacob,  another  Israel,  another  Jeremiah,  another 
Daniel,  and  having  taken  these  names  they  readily 
went  forth  to  martyrdom.' 2 

The  question  of  names  was  not  of  much  import- 
ance. But  the  relation  of  the  Christian  to  the 
business  life  of  the  world  was  no  small  difficulty. 
In  an  age  when  manual  work  was  considered  as 
suitable  only  for  slaves,  the  Church  insisted  thereon 
as  a  duty;3  but  some,  for  instance  Tertullian, 

155),  as  well  as  the  names  that  have  reference  to  the  new  spiritual 
life,  Keuatus,  Vitalis,  Sozomen  (see  list  in  DCA  ii  1372  6).  On  the 
other  hand,  a  common  baptismal  name  was  Stercorius  1  (Le  Blant 
ICG  ii  69  n.)  Mary  is  a  very  rare  name  until  the  close  of  the  4th 
century. 

1  It  is  more  surprising  that  the  victorious  Christians  did  not 
change  the  Mithraistic  names  of  the  days  of  the  week,  especially 
Sunday.    See  supra  p.  82  n. 

2  Procopius  of  Gaza  (early  6th  cent.)  Comment  in  Isaiah  c.  44 ; 
Migne  PG  Ixxxvii  2401,  based  on  Euseb.  MP  11. 

3  I  Thess.  iii  10;  Pseudo-Justin  ad  Zenam  17  (PG  vi  1202);  Ep. 
Barnabas  17.     '  Thou  shalt  work  with  thy  hands  as  a  ransom  for  thy 
sins.'    See  especially  Apost .  Constit.  ii  63 ;  and  for  a  list  of  trades  pur- 
sued by  Christians  as  evidenced  by  inscriptions  DCA  ii  1993.    Among 
them  is  a  manufacturer  of  dice.    At  first  the  clergy  also  were  ex- 
pected to  practise  some  handicraft  (Apost.  Constit.  ii  63 ;  Epiphauius 


172        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

whose  fervid  nature  admits  nothing  short  of  the 
ideal,  can  scarcely  find  an  occupation  in  which  the 
Christian  could  engage  without  compromise  with 
idolatry.1  To  those  who  pleaded  that  if  they  followed 
his  advice  they  would  be  cut  off  from  every  means 
of  livelihood,  Tertullian  answers  that  'faith  must 
despise  starvation  as  much  as  it  despises  death.' 
His  indignation  with  the  Christian  manufacturer  of 
idols  we  can  understand — 'how  can  a  man  raise  in 
the  worship  of  God  hands  that  have  made  idols  ? ' 
but  he  carries  his  logic  to  the  prohibition  of  all 
trades  engaged  however  indirectly  in  supplying  the 
needs  of  idol-makers,  e.g.  goldbeaters  and  engravers.2 

'  With  what  face,'  he  asks, '  can  a  Christian  dealer  in  incense,  who 
happens  to  pass  a  temple,  spit  on  the  smoking  altars ;  and  puff  aside 
their  fumes  when  be  himself  has  sold  the  very  material  for  the 
altar?'  16.  de  Idol.  2. 

That  no  Christian  could  be  an  actor  or  gladiator,  or 
teach  acting,  is  intelligible,3  but  Tertullian  would  bar 
the  Christian  from  becoming  a  schoolmaster,  since 
it  involved  the  teaching  the  names  and  myths  of  the 
gods.  For  '  that  idolatry  which  is  midwife  to  us  all '  * 
still  ruled  the  schools  in  the  shape  of  Greek  and 
Latin  literature,  and,  in  spite  of  the  protests  of 

Haer.  80  n.  5,  6 ;  70  n.  2 ;  Ramsay  GBP  ii  521,  case  of  Fronto).  The 
effect  of  all  this  in  ennobling  work  needs  no  illustration. 

1  Tert.  de  Idol  5,  12  cc.  10,  11, 17.     In  the  de  Idol  we  get  Tertul- 
lian's  real  views  on  the  matter  more  than  in  his  oft-quoted  Apol  42. 
See  infra  189.      For  a  full  study  of  Tertullian's  views  see  Neumann 
ESK  i  119-39  ;  Boissier  FP  hi  c  1. 

2  Ib.  4,  7,  8,  11.    For  'idols'  substitute  "the  drink-trade,"  and 
Tertullian's  arguments  are  repeated  in  many  quarters  to-day. 

3  Cyprian  to  Euchratius  Ep.  ii. 

4  Tcrt.  de  Anima  39,  de  Idol  10. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED         173 

Tertullian  and  Jerome  and  Gregory  the  Great,  was 
destined  still  to  rule  them. 

The  question  whether  a  Christian  could  become  a 
teacher  is  so  characteristic  of  the  general  difficulty 
that  it  deserves  fuller  examination.  The  emphatic 
negative  of  Tertullian  and  his  school  did  not,  we 
imagine,  commend  itself  to  many,  though  inscriptions, 
it  is  true,  give  us  the  names  of  but  few  Christian 
schoolmasters.1  Inasmuch  as  Tertullian  did  not 
counsel  the  withdrawal  of  Christian  children  from 
the  schools — '  studying  literature  is  allowable,  but 
not  teaching' — his  advice  would  simply  have  led  to 
the  depriving  the  little  ones  of  all  teachers  whose 
example  and  silent  influence  might  have  done  some- 
thing to  counteract  the  secular  and  pagan  education. 
The  Canons  of  Hippolytus,  of  the  same  age  probably 
as  Tertullian,  are  more  practical  in  allowing  the 
convert  to  continue  to  act  as  schoolmaster,  on  con- 
dition of  reciting  a  sentence  of  his  creed  before  the 
lessons,  '  Non  est  deus  nisi  Pater  et  Filius  et  Spiritus 
Sanctus.'  They  urge,  also,  that  the  Christian  teacher 
should  use  his  influence,  if  possible,  to  win  over  some 
of  his  heathen  pupils  to  the  faith  in  Christ.9  No 
doubt  the  difficulties  confronting  a  Christian  gram- 
marian were  considerable.  In  a  chapter  of  his 
Confessions  Augustine  declaims  against 

1  I  believe  but  one  has  been  found,  an  elementary  teacher  called 
Gorgonus ;  de  Rossi  PS  ii  310. 

8  Canones  Hippolyti  ed.  Achelia  p.  81  in  TV  vi  (4)  1891.  A  trans- 
lation of  this  very  important  work  will  be  found  in  Duchesne 
Christian  Worship  (E.T.  2nd  ed.  London,  1904)  pp.  524-42.  There 
is  a  vast  literature  on  the  Canons ;  see  Harnack  CAL  ii  501  if. 


174        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

the  hellish  torrent  of  use  and  custom  which  sweeps  away  the  sons  of 
Eve  into  that  vast  and  stormy  sea  which  scarcely  they  who  have 
embarked  upon  the  tree  (i.e.  the  cross)  can  pass  in  safety.' 

He  is  speaking  of  the  school  lessons,  the  shower  of 
gold  in  the  lap  of  Danae,  and  the  like,  '  the  wine  of 
error  held  to  our  lips  by  drunken  teachers  ! ' *  Nor 
were  the  heathen  text-books  and  the  constant  de- 
clamations on  mythological  topics  the  sole  trouble. 
Holidays  and  payment  were  alike  associated  with 
heathen  rites  and  deities.  The  first  fee  was  the  due  of 
Minerva ;  at  the  feast  of  Flora  the  schoolroom  must 
be  adorned  with  garlands.  The  necessary  aloofness 
of  the  Christian  teacher  from  most  of  his  boys  both 
in  the  social  and  religious  life  would  not  make 
matters  easier.  Of  all  this  we  have  an  illustration, 
extreme,  perhaps,  and  yet  to  some  extent  character- 
istic, in  the  case  of  the  martyred  schoolmaster  Cassian 
of  Imola  (Forum  Cornelii).  This  man,  who  was,  it 
must  be  confessed,  somewhat  of  a  martinet,  as  in 
fact  were  most  schoolmasters  in  those  days,  was 
arrested  in  the  midst  of  his  work.  On  refusing  to 
sacrifice,  he  was  handed  over  to  his  lads.  They 
bound  his  hands  and  stabbed  him  to  death  with 
their  sharp  pens  (acutis  sty  Us).2 

1  Confess,  cc.  16-18. 

2  Prudeutius  Peristeph.  ix,  a  poem  interesting  for  its  glimpse  into 
school  life.     According  to  William  of  Malmesbury,  the  same  fate  befell 
the  famous  John  Scot  Erigena  from  the  boys  of  Malmesbury.     See 
Poole  Hist.  Med.  Thought  316-29.     For  the  birchings,  &c.,  of  the  day, 
see  a  charming  letter  of  Ausonius  to  hia  grandson,  translated  in  Glover 
Life  and  Letters  Fourth  Cent.  107. 

The  school  difficulty  may  perhaps  account  for  the  fact  that  "  the 
Greek  of  the  Christian  inscriptions  is  undoubtedly  worse  than  that 


THE   CAUSES  OF  HATRED  175 

That  the  Church  made  no  attempt  to  provide 
schools  of  its  own  for  children  will  not  excite  surprise. 
This  would  have  led  to  the  very  identification  which 
the  more  part  were  anxious  to  avoid.  The  school 
system  of  the  Empire  was  too  well  established  and 
endowed  for  the  attempt  to  succeed,  unless  supported 
by  larger  resources  than  the  Church  could  command. 
But  in  the  case  of  Christians  thrown  out  of  a  situation 
by  their  conversion,  especially  actors  and  others  simi- 
larly engaged,1  the  Church  sought  to  ease  the  strain 
by  itself  providing  work  for  its  members.  We  see 
this  clearly  brought  out  in  a  passage  of  the  Didache, 
where  it  forms  part  of  a  section  on  the  duties  of  the 
Church  to  the  brethren  on  their  journeys  : 

4  But  let  every  one  that  coineth  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  be  received. 

of  ordinary  pagan  epitaphs  "  (Ramsay  GBP  i  517)  Aristides  com- 
plained of  the  very  bad  Christian  Greek  (Arist.  Orat.  46  ed.  Dindorf 
ii  394 ;  Neumann  ItSK  i  35  if.).  At  a  very  early  date,  as  we  see 
from  Celsus  (Orig.  Gels,  vi  14),  many  Christians  began  to  doubt 
the  wisdom  of  studying  pagan  literature.  We  see  this  also  in 
Tertullian's  famous  saying :  *  Haereticorum  patriarchae  Philosophi ' 
(Ad.  Hermog.  18).  Clement  Alex.  (Strom,  i  9)  and  the  school  of 
Alexandria  were  almost  alone  in  their  plea  for  Greek  culture.  From 
the  5th  century  onwards  the  hostility  of  the  Church  towards  pagan 
literature  became  fixed,  and  reached  its  triumpTi  in  Gregory  Gt.  (Ep. 
ix  54  to  bp.  Desiderius  of  Vienne) :  '  A  report  has  reached  us  which 
we  cannot  mention  without  a  blush,  that  thou  expoundest  grammar 
to  certain  friends,'  &c.  On  Christianity  and  education  see  Boissier 
FP  ii  cc.  1  and  2. 

1  Cyprian  to  Euchratins  Ep.  ii  2.  Cyprian  adds  that  the  actor  so 
supported  is  not  to  think  that  '  he  is  redeemed  by  an  allowance  in 
order  to  cease  from  sinning.' 

The  Synod  of  Elvira  (c.  62)  required  a  pantomime  to  renounce  his 
craft  before  baptism  (Dalo  BE  334,  175).  For  a  full  collection  of 
passages  bearing  on  the  Church's  treatment  of  actors,  &c.,  see  the 
historic  Prynne's  Histriomastix  (1633)  p.  545  ff. 


176        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

If  the  comer  is  a  traveller,  assist  him,  so  far  as  ye  are  able,  but  he 
shall  not  stay  with  you  more  than  two  or  three  days,  if  it  be  necessary. 
But  if  he  wishes  to  settle  with  you,  being  a  craftsman,  let  him  work 
for  and  eat  his  bread.  Bat  if  he  has  no  craft,  according  to  your 
wisdom  provide  how  he  shall  live  as  a  Christian  among  you,  but  not 
in  idleness.  If  he  will  not  do  this,  he  is  trafficking  upon  Christ.'  l 

In  the  Apostolic  Constitutions  this  becomes  one  of 
the  manifold  charitable  duties  so  characteristic  of  the 
early  Church,  the  discharge  of  which  fell  upon  the 
bishop  : 

'  Exhibit  to  the  orphan  the  care  of  parents  ;  to  the  widows  the  care 
of  husband  ;  to  those  of  suitable  age  marriage  ;  for  the  artificer  obtain 
work  ;  to  the  incapable  give  alms  ;  for  strangers  provide  an  home  ;  for 
the  sick  visitation  ;  for  prisoners  assistance  ;  ...  for  the  young 
orphan  help  that  he  may  learn  a  trade.'  2 

Naturally,  with  the  growth  of  the  Church  such 
methods  became  unworkable,  in  part  because  of  the 
'trafficking  upon  Christ'  of  rogues,  of  whom  Pere- 
grinus  may  be  taken  as  a  sample,  who  found  that  to 
pass  as  a  Christian  by  means  of  the  secret  signs,  the 
fish  and  the  like,  enabled  them  to  live  in  luxury  at 
the  expense  of  the  brethren.3  The  existence  of  such 
a  system  of  support  proves  the  presence  in  the  Church 
from  its  earliest  days  of  a  fair  proportion  of  wealthy 
men,  without  whose  generous  gifts  such  a  scheme 
could  not  have  been  attempted. 

The  effect  of  all  this  on  the  aloofness  of  the  Chris- 
tian, and  the  consequent  gulf  between  himself  and 
other  classes,  will  not  need  illustration.  The  system 


DidacJie  xii,  cf.  Ill  John  5-8. 

2  Apost.  Constit.  iv  2  ;  a  passage  throwing  a  fine  sidelight  on  the 
social  Christianity  of  the  Church  of  that  day. 
8  Lncian  PP  16.    Cf.  II  John  7,  10,  11. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  177 

worked  in  two  ways.  Early  Christianity  was  essen- 
tially a  brotherhood  founded  upon  a  gospel  of  love 
and  charity.  As  such  it  stood  apart  from  its  sur- 
roundings.1 At  the  same  time,  by  its  exaltation  of 
the  value  and  need  of  work,  there  can  be  little  doubt, 
though  the  matter  is  not  capable,  perhaps,  of  formal 
proof,  that  this  brotherhood,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
they  were  necessarily  shut  out  from  certain  trades, 
won  for  itself  no  small  wealth.  In  a  population  bent 
on  'bread  and  the  games/  which  had  long  handed 
over  to  slaves  the  pursuits  of  industry,  where  a  middle 
class  scarcely  existed,  an  earnest,  industrious  brother- 
hood, which  shunned  as  "works  of  the  devil"  the 
amusements  and  idleness  which  sapped  the  life  of 
the  Eoman  world,  could  not  fail  to  prosper.  But  the 
more  they  prospered,  the  more  they  would  draw  down 
upon  themselves  the  hatred  of  their  neighbours,  who, 
from  causes  into  which  we  cannot  now  enter,  but 
which  finally  dragged  down  in  financial  ruin  the 
Eoman  Empire  itself,  were  daily  growing  poorer.2 

From  the  difficulties  of  business  we  pass  to  the 
questions  of  social  intercourse  and  daily  life.     The 

1  On  this  matter  see  Harnack  EC  i  bk  2  c.  3.    Such  works  as 
TJhlhorn  Christian  Charity  in  the  Ancient  Church  (Eng.  Trans.  Taylor 
1883)  or  Brace  Getta  Christi  (1882)  must  be  road  with  caution.    They 
do  not  do   justice    to    the   social    legislation    of  Trajan  and  the 
Antonines,  or  to  the  philanthropies  of  the  collegia. 

2  Historians  are  now  fairly  agreed  that  the  Western  Empire  fell 
largely  through  growing  financial  rottenness,  e.g.  Dill  RSMEiii  c  2. 
Do  the  materials  exist  to  enable  us  to  reconstruct  the  commercial  and 
financial  position  of  Christianity  in  this  bankrupt  world?    I  am 
persuaded  myself  that  in  the  2nd  century  Christianity  was  largely  a 
middle-class  movement.    See  infra  Appendix  F. 

N 


178        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

consistent  Christian — inconsistent  Christians,  alas ! 
abounded — was  never  seen  at  theatre,  circus,  or 
Coliseum.  'Where  more/  said  Tertullian,  bluntly, 
'  will  you  find  the  devil  with  his  angels  ? ' l  But 
outside  these  acknowledged  restrictions  there  was 
then  as  now,  a  large  and  often  doubtful  borderland 
of  duty.  On  Caesar's  birthday  should  the  Christian 
illuminate  his  house,  and  festoon  his  gates  with 
wreaths  ? 2  Could  the  Christian  attend  the  weddings, 
funerals,  birthday  rejoicings,  and  other  festivities  in 
the  homes  of  heathen  friends  ?  Could  matters  be 
conveniently  arranged  by  leaving  out  on  the  invita- 
tion card  the  words  '  to  assist  at  a  sacrifice '  ? 8  If 
the  Christian  was  sick,  should  he  seek  shelter  in  the 
hospitals  attached  to  the  temples  of  Aesculapius,  in 
whose  long  dormitories,  when  the  lamps  were  lighted, 
the  priests  of  the  god  of  healing  recited  the  vesper 
prayers?4  If  he  were  wronged,  must  he  refuse  to 
appear  in  the  law-courts,  the  business  and  forms  of 
which  were  mixed  up  with  heathen  rites  ? 5 

From  many  offices  in  the  State,  the  duties  of 
which  involved  the  performance  of  heathen  rites,  the 
conscientious  Christian,  in  the  opinion  of  many,  was 
necessarily  excluded.  For  office  involved  not  only 

1  Tert.  de  Spectaculis  4,  10,  17;    in  c.  27  Tert.  rules  out  even 
plays  that  teach  moral  lessons.    Minuc.  Felix  Oct.  12;  Tatian  ad 
Graecos  22,  Clement  Alex.  Paed  iii  11.    Pseudo-Cyprian  de  Spectac  4 
lays  down  the  good  rule  that  it  is  '  unlawful  to  witness  what  it  is 
unlawful  to  do.' 

2  Tert.  de  Idol  15;  Apol  35. 

*  So  Tert.  de  Idol  16,  a  subtle  distinction  I 
4  Dill  E8NA  460-2  for  these  hoepitals. 
6  I  Cor.  vi.  1-11 ;  Lactantius  MP  15. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED         179 

pagan  sacrifice,  but  '  the  holding  spectacles  either  at 
his  own  or  the  State's  expense,'  '  the  presiding  at  the 
same,'  to  say  nothing  of  judicial  duties  which  could 
not  be  carried  out  *  without  chaining  and  torturing.' l 
'  The  Christian,'  said  Tertullian,  '  has  no  desire  to  be 
aedile  ' ; 2  he  classes  '  politics '  (res  publicae)  among 
the  things  that  are  '  alien/  for  '  the  Christian  has  but 
one  commonwealth — the  world,'3  a  doctrine  which 
drew  forth  the  taunt  of  Celsus  :  '  Were  all  to  behave 
as  you  do,  the  affairs  of  this  world  would  fall  into  the 
hands  of  wild  and  lawless  barbarians.'  *  Tertullian 
does  not  mention  that  the  expenses  of  office  in  the 
second  century  (much  more  so  in  the  third)  had  be- 
come so  great  as  to  involve  financial  ruin  for  all  but 
the  wealthiest.  Others  I  asides  Christians  caught  at 
every  means  of  escape  from  the  intolerable  burden.5 
Some  went  so  far  as  to  unfit  themselves  by  marriage 
with  a  slave ;  others  bought  themselves  out  at  a  price. 
The  Christian's  excuse  of  religion  would  seem  to  his 
neighbour  either  cant  or  selfishness,  if  not  the  cloak 
of  a  heavy  bribe,  unless  accompanied,  as  in  the  case 
of  Cyprian  and  Basil,  by  such  a  surrender  of  their 
property  as  would  put  them  outside  the  list  of  those 

1  Tert.  de  Idol.  17, 18. 

2  ib.  Apol.  46.     Caeciliua  in  Minuc.  Felix   Oct.  8,  '  honores  et 
purpuras  despiciunt.'    Tatian  ad  Graccos  11, '  I  do  not  wish  to  be  a 
king,'  &c. 

3  Tert.  Apol  38  f.    Cf.  Ep.  Diog.  v  5  (quoted  supra  p.  168).    Clem. 
Alex.  Paed.  iii  8.     irarpfta  M  yyv  OVK  £x°At6*'>  with  which  cf.  Wesley's 
Hymns  (1876  Edition)  No.  68  (not  in  1904  Edition). 

4  Orig.  Cels.  viii  68 ;  cf.  Aristides  Orat.  46  (Ed.  Dindorf  ii  402). 

5  On  this  see  Dill  S8NA  245-7,  also  RSWE  250-1,  253-4.    Bigg 
Church's  Task  119  n.     Boissier  FP  ii  409-16. 


180        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

eligible  for  office.1  There  are  grounds  also  for  believ- 
ing that  Christians,  for  whom  escape  from  office 
proved  impossible,  tried  to  shelter  themselves  by  a 
policy  which  outsiders  rightly  or  wrongly  dubbed  as 
*  laziness.' 2  We  can  well  imagine  that  they  would 
do  no  more  in  the  matter  of  spectacles  than  they  were 
obliged.  Some,  it  is  true,  tried  to  perform  to  the 
full  all  their  municipal  functions,  including  the  bow- 
ing in  the  house  of  Pdmmon,  and  excused  themselves 
by  the  examples  of  Joseph  and  Daniel,  who,  '  clean 
from  idolatry,'  wore  'the  livery  and  purple  of  the 
prefecture/  8  That  there  was  no  direct  command  of 
the  Church  in  the  age  of  Tertullian  against  taking 
office  is  shown  by  the  Canons  of  Hippolytus*  as  well 
as  by  the  later  decision  of  the  Council  of  Elvira,6  and 
the  number  of  Christians  who  actually  took  office.6 

Bigg  o.c.  102-4. 

E.g.  Flavins  Clemens  (infra  p.  204)  whom  Suetonius  Dom.  10 
accuses  of '  contemptissimae  inertiae.' 

Tert.  de  Idol  17. 

C.  13,  73.    Ed.  Achelis  p.  82  in  TU  (vi)  4. 

Canon  56.  This  important  Synod  was  held  at  Illiberis,  near 
Granada,  on  May  15  of  some  year  between  295-302  (Harnack  GAL 
ii  450-2).  It  shows  that  there  were  many  Christians  who  were 
yet  flamens  or  priests,  and  throws  anything  but  a  good  light  on  the 
purity  of  the  Spanish  Church  as  the  result  of  the  long  peace  (infra 
p.  267).  See  Dale  Synod  of  Elvira  (1882)  for  a  full  account. 

6  For  Christian  magistrates  at  Alexandria  see  Euseb.  HEvi  41,11, 
viii  9.  Dativus  (supra  p.  143)  was  a  senator  of  Carthage.  The  martyr 
Papylus  of  Thyatira  was  a  senator  (Harnack  TU  iii  (3)  4  or  Gebhardt 
AMS  15).  For  Apollonius,  a  senator  of  Rome,  see  infra  p.  219  n.  For 
three  Christian  senators  of  Eumeneia  see  Ramsay  CBP  i  520,  522, 
525.  According  to  Euseb.  HE  viii  1  at  the  commencement  of  the  reign 
of  Diocletian  some  of  the  Christians  were  actually  governors  of 
provinces.  See  also  Hermes  of  Heraclea  infra  p.  275. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  181 

But  it  was  acknowledged  that  office  should  only  be 
undertaken  as  the  last  resort,  while  escape  from  it 
can  scarcely  be  classed  as  renunciation. 

Finally  there  was  the  question  of  the  army,  the 
symbol  of  patriotism,  the  refuge  of  a  trembling  world 
against  the  barbarians.  Should  the  Christian  serve 
at  all,  or,  if  unable  to  escape  this  obligation,  what  was 
his  duty  ?  Opinion  on  the  army  varied  considerably. 
Tertullian  held  that  'there  could  be  no  agreement 
between  the  human  and  divine  sacr amentum,  the 
standard  of  Christ  and  the  devil,  the  camp  of  light 
and  the  camp  of  darkness,'  and  went  so  far  as  to  urge 
desertion.  He  was  followed  by  Lactantius  and  Origen. 
When  Celsus  pointed  out  the  consequences,  Origen 
fell  back  at  first  on  Providence — in  reality  he  becomes 
a  fatalist — and  then  ended  the  argument  by  stating 
that  all  Christians  are  priests,  and  as  priests  are 
exempt  from  military  service,  but  will  '  form  an  army 
of  piety,  and  fight  by  offering  prayers.'  He  definitely 
states  that '  Christians  wiU  not  fight,  even  if  the  king 
(emperor)  requires  us  to  do.'  Similar  decisions  might 
be  quoted  from  others  of  the  Fathers.1 

The  difficulty  of  a  Christian  becoming  or  con- 
tinuing as  a  soldier  was  not  merely  theological,  but 

1  Tert.  de  Idol.  19;  de  Cor.  11;  de  Pallio  5,  'mm  milito;'  de 
Resurrect.  16 ;  Orig.  Cels.  viii  69-75  (sections  well  worth  reading)  ; 
Tatian  ad  Graecos  11,  'I  decline  military  command';  Lactantius 
Instil,  vi.  (20)  16.  Tertullian's  de  Corona  was  undoubtedly  written 
(211)  after  he  had  become  a  Montanist  (207).  See  Bury's  Gibbon  ii 
19;  Harnack  CAL  ii  280.  According  to  Tertullian,  desertion  was 
frequent,  *  ut  a  multis  actuua.'  On  the  other  side  note  Clem.  Alex 
Protreph  (i.e.  adv.  Gentes}  c.  x  (Migne  PG  viii  215),  'When  know- 
ledge has  come  to  you  in  military  service.' 


182        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

practical.  A  Christian  in  the  army,  if  appointed  a 
non-commissioned  officer,  for  instance  a  centurion, 
was  bound  to  perform,  or  at  least  to  witness  in  silence, 
certain  sacrifices  or  else  resign  at  once  office  and 
life.  This  happened  in  many  cases,  of  some  of  which 
we  still  possess  the  records.  We  may  take  as  an 
example  the  story  of  Marcellus,  'a  centurion  of  the 
Trajan  legion '  stationed  at  Tangiers.  The  birthday 
of  Maximian1  was  being  celebrated  with  the  usual 
sacrifices  (July  21),  when  Marcellus,  horrified  with 
all  that  he  saw  around  him,  suddenly  flung  away  his 
military  belt  and  his  centurion's  vine-stick  and  cried, 

*  I  am  a  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  eternal  King.  I  have  done 
with  fighting  for  your  emperors.  I  despise  the  worship  of  deaf  and 
dumb  gods  of  wood  and  stone.  If  the  terms  of  service  are  such  that 
one  is  bound  to  offer  sacrifices  to  gods  and  emperors,  then  I  refuse 
to  be  a  soldier.' 

He  was,  of  course,  arrested  and  tried  (Oct.  80). 

"  How  came  you  to  be  so  mad  as  to  renounce  your  oath  and  speak 
like  that  ? "  asked  the  deputy  prefect.  "  There  is  no  madness  in  those 
who  serve  the  Lord,"  was  the  reply.  *'  Did  you  say  the  very  words 
given  here  in  the  commandant's  report  ? "  "I  did."  "  Did  you  throw 
away  your  vine-stick  ?  "  "I  did." 

As  he  was  led  away  to  be  beheaded,  Marcellus  turned 

1  There  are  one  or  two  difficulties  in  this  undoubtedly  genuine 
Acts.  The  usual  quarters  of  the  'legio  II  Trajana'  were  Alexandria, 
the  only  troops  at  Tangiers  being  auxiliaries,  perhaps  of  that  legion 
(Harnack  MO  85).  The  '  feast  of  the  emperor '  (festum  imperatoris) 
must  be  Maximian's,  not  Constantius  Chlorus  (Harnack  GAL  ii  473  n., 
who  relies  on  c.  3  'in  Caesarem '),  for  the  district  of  Mauritania 
Tingitana  went  with  the  diocese  of  Spain,  which  at  this  time  was 
assigned  to  Maximian  (Bury's  Gibbon  App.  ii  555,  560).  The  year 
is  uncertain  (?  295  or  303). 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  183 

to  the  prefect ;  '  God  bless  you,'  he  said.  '  That/  adds 
the  writer  of  this  old  record,  ( was  the  proper  way  in 
which  a  martyr  should  take  leave  of  the  world/ l 

The  difficulty  of  sacrifices  scarcely  applied  to 
the  rank  and  file.2  But  there  were  other  dangers 
that  the  Christian  soldier  ran,  an  illustration  of 
which  will  be  found  in  the  recently  published  story 
of  Dasius,  of  the  army  of  Moesia.  The  troops  there 
were  accustomed  to  elect  one  of  their  number  to  act 
as  "  king  "  during  the  Saturnalia,  the  annual  heathen 
feast  of  slaves,  now  supplanted  by  Christmas.  After 
thirty  days  of  rule  this  "king"  was  expected  to  offer 
himself  as  a  sacrifice  to  Saturn.  When  the  lot  fell 
upon  Dasius  he  refused  to  act,  pleading  that  he  was 
a  Christian.  Needless  to  say,  he  suffered  the  con- 
sequences.8 

Moreover,  the  army,  at  the  time  when  Tertullian 
and  Origen  wrote,  was  carried  away  by  the  cult  of 
Mithraism.  Throughout  Europe,  as  Cumont  has 
shown,  the  'Invincible  Saviour'  Mithra  was  at  this 
time  the  special  deity  of  soldiers.  Dacia  and 

1  Ruinart  AM  303  or  Harnaok  MG  117.  For  other  cases,  see 
that  of  Marinus  (Euseb.  HE  vii  15) ;  Callistratus  (Oonybeare,  MEG 
289  ff.) ;  and  of.  Tert.  de  Corona,  1.  But  the  fact  that  Tertullian 
devotes  a  treatise  to  this  last  case  shows  how  rare  it  was. 

3  So  Tert.  de  Idol.  19  expressly.  Tertullian  objects  almost  as  much 
to  the  capital  punishment  which  a  Christian  officer  might  have  to 
inflict. 

»  A  Greek  version  was  first  published  by  Oumout  (Anal  Boll,  xvi 
(1897)  5  ff).  The  Latin  original  is  lost.  The  day  is  Nov.  20. 
Harnack  CAL  ii  476  dates  in  303,  but  the  words  *  when  Maximian 
and  Diocletian  were  emperors '  seem  to  me  to  point  to  a  date  after 
Diocletian's  failure  of  health,  i.e.  Nov.  304  (see  infra  p.  276). 


184        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY   CHURCH 

Pannonia,  for  instance,  the  great  military  outposts  of 
the  Empire,  are  full  of  his  shrines;  the  spread  of 
Mithraism  in  Pannonia,  especially  in  the  chain 
of  Eoman  defences  along  the  Danube,  being  the 
work  of  the  auxiliaries  of  two  legions,  the  second  and 
fifteenth,  whose  recruiting  ground  was  Gappadocia. 
In  one  camp  no  less  than  three  Mithraeums  have 
been  discovered.  From  the  Danube  the  religion  was 
carried  to  the  two  Germanies,  probably  by  the  eighth 
legion,  in  or  about  the  year  20  A.D.  Along  the 
Rhine  from  Basel  to  Cologne,  and  especially  in  the 
military  district  between  the  Main  and  the  Neckar, 
the  temples  and  inscriptions  of  Mithra  are  to  be 
seen  everywhere.  From  this  stronghold  of  the  faith 
the  triumphant  march  of  Mithra  may  be  traced  by 
Cologne,  Treves,  and  Boulogne,  the  station  of  the 
British  fleet,  to  the  great  port  of  London  and  the 
camps  of  Caerleon,  Chester,  and  York;  while  five 
guard-houses  in  the  wall  of  Hadrian,  as  well  as  an 
outpost  among  the  Cheviots,  still  show  the  shrines 
of  the  god.  All  this  added  complication  to  a  situation 
difficult  enough  already.  To  enter  the  army,  or  to 
remain  in  it  after  conversion,  involved  a  Christian 
profession  in  the  midst  of  a  specially  organized  and 
aggressive  heathenism. 

There    was    also    a    theological    or    theoretical 
difficulty  of  some  importance.1    The  Christians,  in- 

1  For  this  section  see  flarnack's  little  monograph,  Militia  Christi 
(1905),  the  Appendix  of  which  contains  a  full  citation  of  all  authorities. 
The  idea  is  especially  developed  by  Origen,  but  is  found  not  only  in 
St.  Paul,  but  in  I  Clem.  Cor.  37 ;  Hennas  Shep.  S.  v.  1 ;  Justin  I  Apol 
39;  Clem.  Alex,  passim,  and  Tertulliau  ad  mart.  3;  Apol  37,  39,  50; 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  185 

fluenced  by  the  words  of  Jesus  and  of  St.  Paul,  had 
from  the  first  adopted  the  conception  of  the  Church 
as  the  Militia  Christi,  the  army  of  Christ.  They  were 
'  soldiers '  in  a  '  holy  war '  which  should  bring  in 
'with  violence'  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Jesus  was 
their  Imperator,  that  great  Captain,  to  whom  they 
were  bound  in  allegiance  by  no  common  sacmmentum, 
or  oath ;  under  whose  standard,  the  Cross — the 
vexillum  Christi — they  were  enrolled,  and  whose  last 
words  had  been  an  earnest  of  victory :  '  Be  of  good 
cheer:  I  have  conquered  the  world.'  But  how  can 
a  man  serve  two  Emperors,  be  enrolled  under  two 
flags,  live  in  two  camps,  or  go  on  two  different 
campaigns  at  the  same  time?  Does  not  the  one 
exclude  the  other  ?  So  powerful  indeed  in  the  Early 
Church  was  this  military  metaphor,  that  many  acted 
or  rather  reasoned  as  if  it  were  a  reality.  They  were 
'  the  army  of  the  living  God,' 1  prepared,  if  need  be,  to 
become  '  the  army  of  martyrs '  rather  than  deny  their 
Captain.  One  of  these  stalwarts,  a  youth  called 
Maximilian  of  Theveste,2  was  pressed  as  a  recruit,  and 
on  his  refusal  to  serve  was  brought  before  the  pro- 
consul Dion.  The  magistrate  ordered  the  attendants 

de  Corona,  1,  11,  15  ;  de  Idol.  19,  and  elsewhere;  much  stress  is  laid 
on  it  by  Cyprian  (Epp.  10, 1 ;  15, 1 ;  28, 1 ;  58,  4,  &c.) 

1  See  note  on  "  pagan,"  infra  p.  234  n.  3. 

2  For  Maximilian  of  Theveste,  see  his  Ada  in  Euinart  AM  300  ff. 
or  Harnack  MC  114-7.    His  father  Fabius  Victor  was  temonarius,  i.e. 
his  business  was  to  collect  the  money  of  conscripts  who  wished  to 
commute  service  for  a  fine.    Victor  was  a  Cbristian,  but  naturally 
had  no  sympathy  with  the  views  of  his  son  on  this  matter.    See  also 
infra  p.  335.    The  date  was  March  12,  295.    On  Thevoste  (Tubessa) 
and  its  importance  gee  Tissot  PEA  passim. 


186        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

to  measure  him.  'He  is  five  foot  ten,'  was  the 
answer.  'Enroll  him  then  at  once/  said  Dion. 
'  Cut  off  my  head  if  you  like,'  cried  the  youth,  '  but 
I  cannot  be  a  soldier  of  the  world,  I  am  a  soldier  of 
my  God.'  They  hung  the  leaden  badge  of  service 
round  his  neck.  '  I  don't  accept  it,'  he  said ;  '  I  have 
already  the  badge  of  service  under  Christ.'  So  he 
persisted  to  the  end,  and  with  'a  bright  smile' 
obtained  his  '  crown.'  '  Give  to  the  executioner,'  he 
said,  turning  to  his  father,  '  the  soldier's  dress  you 
made  ready  for  me.' 

Such  cases  as  that  of  Maximilian  were  rare ;  not 
many  soldiers  were  impressed  against  their  will.1 
In  spite  of  all  difficulties,  theological  or  practical,  the 
Christians  in  the  army  were  fairly  numerous.2  The 
story  of  the  "  Thundering  Legion,"8  whatever  be  its 

1  See  Neumann  BSK  i  128,  who  quotes  Mommsen  Rom,  Staats- 
recht.  ii  (2)  849  f.  and  his  paper  on  Conscription  in  Hermes  xix  (1884). 

2  This  is  expressly  stated  by  the  proconsul  Dion  (295).      See 
Ruinart  AM  300  or   Harnack  MC  116.     Christian   soldiers  were 
especially  common  in  Africa  (Harnack  EC  i  461).    According  to  Le 
Blant  ICG  i  85,  out  of  every  hundred  epitaphs  in  Gaul  pagan  soldiers 
are  mentioned  in  5  42,  Christians  in  0  57  per  cent.    When  pleading 
before  civil  governors,  Tertullian  is  shrewd  enough  to  lay  stress  on  the 
number  of  Christians  '  implevimus  castra  ipsa '  (Apol.  37) ;  *  militamus 
vobiscum '  (i&.  47).    Cf.  Euseb,  HE  viii  4. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  continuity  of  Christians  in  the  same 
legion.  Take  the  *  Legio  XII  Fulminata.'  We  have  the  Christians 
of  the  famous  story  (A.D.  174).  To  the  same  regiment  belong  the 
Forty  Martyrs  of  Sebaste  (see  infra),  Polyeuctes  (temp.  Deoius.  On 
the  historical  basis  of  this  famous  story  see  Allard  II  HP  App.  D. 
Conybeare  MEG  123  f). 

3  The  title  fulminatrix,  or  "  Thundering,"  is  a  mistake.    It  was 
really  the  'legio  XII  fulminata  Melitensis'  (cf.  Dio.  Cass.  Iv  23),  i.e. 
the  shields  of  the  'legion  of  Melitene'  bore  the  de?ice  of  Jupiter 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  187 

value  otherwise,  proves  conclusively  that  the  views  of 
Origen  and  Tertullian  were  not  accepted  by  the  early 
Church,  which  preferred  to  point  to  the  many  Chris- 
tian soldiers  in  the  pages  of  the  New  Testament, 
above  all  to  the  story  of  the  believing  centurion  at 
the  foot  of  the  cross.1 

Then,  as  now,  there  were  soldiers  not  a  few  who 
could  be  as  patriotic  as  Celsus  himself,  and  as  firm 
for  their  faith,  when  occasion  called,  as  Tertullian. 
The  army  never  lacked  Christians,  true  heroes  of 
God,  who  were  prepared,  if  need  be,  to  lay  down  their 
lives  rather  than  deny  their  Christ.  The  proportion 
of  martyr-soldiers  is  uncommonly  large,  and  is,  no 
doubt,  to  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  in  times  of 
stress  and  persecution  the  detection  of  Christians 
who  were  soldiers  was  easy,  escape,  in  other  words 
desertion,  impossible ;  while  the  first  effort  of  the 
Government  when  persecution  broke  out  would  be 
directed  to  the  purging  the  army  of  the  accursed 
taint.2  The  number  of  Christians  who  refused  to 

brandishing  the  thunderbolt,  a  title  of  the  12th  legion  long  before 
the  war  with  the  Quadi  and  the  date  of  this  story  (174  A.D.).  That 
the  story  (see  Euseb.  HE  v  5,  Tert.  ad  Scap.  4)  has  a  basis  of  fact  is 
shown  by  its  being  depicted  on  the  column  of  Marcus  Aurelius.  See 
Lightf.  Ign.  i  485-92;  Renan  MA  273  ff.  for  full  investigation. 
Harnack  points  out  (MO 57 ;  ECU  206-7,  342)  that  this  'Legion  of 
Melitene '  in  South  Armenia  was  largely  recruited  from  Edessa,  an 
early  Christian  stronghold  whose  royal  house  by  the  year  200  was 
Christian  (ib.  EC  ii  293)  as  well  as  from  Armenia,  where  Christianity 
was  also  strong  soon  afterwards  (Euseb.  HE  viii  6,  8,  infra  p.  270  n.). 

1  Tert.  de  Idol.   19    retorted   that   Jesus  'in  disarming  Peter 
unbelted  every  soldier '  (John  xviii  10,  11 ;  Luke  xxii  38). 

2  So  Euseb.  HE  viii  1, 7 ;  Lact.  M.P.  10 ;  Harnack  MC  80.    The  first 
move  of  Licinian  in  his  final  struggle  with  Constantino  was  to  purge 


188        PERSECUTION  IN    THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

serve  and  suffered  in  consequence  would  appear  to 
have  been  but  few ;  the  Christians  in  the  army  who 
laid  down  their  lives  for  their  Lord  and  Master  form 
a  goodly  company.1  These  were  they  of  whom  the 
seer  had  his  vision,  *  the  armies  in  heaven  which 
follow  the  Word  upon  white  horses,  clothed  in  fine 
linen,  white  and  clean.'  (Apoc.  xix  14.) 

Such  were  some  of  the  difficulties  with  which  the 
Christian  was  daily  faced.  The  answer  he  gave 
varied.  Some,  as  we  have  seen,  led  on  by  Tertullian, 
took  up  a  position  of  irreconcilable  aloofness  from 
life,  which  led  Celsus  and  others  to  urge  that  Chris- 
tianity constituted  a  danger  to  the  social  fabric  itself. 
Others  found  that  in  practice,  provided  only  that 
they  maintained  a  certain  reserve,  difficulties  were 
less  real  than  they  appeared.  For  them  solvitur 
ambulando  proved  a  better  guide  than  logic.  They 
did  their  best  in  that  state  of  life  in  which  God  had 
placed  them,  to  keep  themselves  unspotted  from  the 
world.  These,  as  Tertullian  owns  in  an  oft-quoted 
passage  wrung  from  him  by  the  needs  of  his  Apology, 
formed  the  vast  majority  of  the  Church.  Christians, 
he  claims,  are  not  infructuosi  in  negotiis,  '  of  no  use 
in  the  affairs  of  life.' 

*  How  can  that  be  when  we  dwell  beside  you,  sharing  your  mode 

his  army  (Euseb.  HE  x  8).  To  this  must  be  assigned  the  martyrdom 
of  the  Forty  Soldiers  of  Sebaste.  Part  of  their  torture  was  to  stand 
all  night,  almost  naked,  near  a  frozen  pond.  They  wrote  a  last 
Testament,  the  original  Greek  of  which  has  been  recently  published 
by  Bonwctsch.  See  Geb.  AMS  166-70.  Their  Acts  (Geb.  AMS 
171-81)  require  some  care,  as  they  are  much  later. 
>  See  a  list  in  Harnack  EC  ii  213-6. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED         189 

of  life,  dress,  habits  ?  We  are  not  Brahmins  or  Indian  gymnosophista 
dwelling  in  woods  and  exiled  from  life.  Wo  live  beside  you  in  the 
world,  making  use  of  the  same  forum,  market,  bath,  shop,  inn,  and 
all  other  places  of  trade.  We  sail  with  you,  fight  shoulder  to  shoulder, 
till  the  soil,  and  traffic  with  you.' l 

Christians,  in  fact,  in  the  third  century  were  to  be 
met  with  everywhere,  in  business,  in  all  positions  of 
the  State,  in  the  army,  and  even  in  the  Senate. 
But  their  presence  in  these  positions  was  surrounded 
with  many  difficulties ;  they  could  scarcely  avoid 
arousing  popular  suspicion  both  by  what  they  did  and 
by  what  they  left  undone.  With  the  best  will  in  the 
world,  they  remained  a  peculiar  people,  who  must  be 
prepared  at  any  moment  to  meet  the  storm  of  hatred. 
The  hatred  was  the  more  acute  because  the  Chris- 
tians were  not  only  peculiar,  but  proud  of  their  pecu- 
liarities, by  which,  as  they  claimed,  they  rose  superior 
to  the  world.  To  Celsus  they  seemed,  in  their  admix- 
ture of  humility  and  pride, 

'  frogs  in  council  on  a  marsh,  worms  in  synod  on  a  dunghill,  quarrel- 
ling as  to  which  is  the  greatest  sinner,  and  yet  declaring  tbat  God 
announces  all  things  to  us  beforehand.  .  .  .  Land  and  water,  air  and 
stars,  all  things  are  for  our  sake  and  are  appointed  to  serve  us.' 2 

1  Tert.  Apol.  42.    To  write  such  a  passage  must  have  been  gall 
to  Tertullian,  at  any  rate  in  later  life. 

2  Orig.  Cels.  iv  23  (read  the  whole  chapter);   cf.  iv  28.    The 
student  may  be  interested  in  the  following  collection  of  adjectives 
applied  to  Christianity :  Acts  xvii  6.    ol  r^v  olKovpevnv  bvaffTarfaaavres 
("  These  that  have  turned  the  world  upside  down  ").    Tac.  Ann.  xv 
44,   '  exitiabilis   superstitio '  ("  a  deadly  superstition ") ;    Suetonius 
Nero  1C,  superstitio  nova  et  malefica    ("new  and   pernicious"); 
Pliny   Ep.    x  96,   superstitio  prava  et  immodica  ("  depraved  and 
extravagant");   so  also  Minuc.  Felix   Oct.    10.      Marcus  Aurelius 
Medit.  xi  3.    Karck  tyi\1]v  irapdra^iv,  us  ol  x^'o^ayo/  ("  sheer  obstinacy  "). 


190        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

The  Christians,  in  their  own  proud  phrase,  were  '  the 
new  people,' 1  { the  third  race ' a — this  last,  possibly  ^ 
of  Gentile  rather  than  Christian  origin,  though 
adopted  by  them  without  demur.  Such  titles  were 
not  merely  the  signs  of  separation  and  aloofness; 
they  were  the  assertions  of  a  purpose.  The  Chris- 
tians claimed  that  they  would  accomplish  a  task 
which  in  the  end  baffled  the  Empire ; — build  into  a 
new  unity  the  diverse  nations  of  earth.3 

Tert.  Apol.  35,  'public!  hostes.*  Caecilius  in  Mimic.  Felix  Oct. 
supplies  a  choice  supply;  e.g.  ib.  9, '  vana  et  demens  superstitio' ;  ib. 
8,  'inlioitae  ac  desperatae  factionis*  ("an  unlawful  and  desperate 
faction  ") ;  ib.  ix,  *  sacraria  taeterrima  impiae  citionis '  ("  abominable 
shrines  of  an  impious  assembly  ") ;  '  cruenda  et  execranda  consensio ' 
("  a  confederacy  to  be  rooted  out  and  detested  ") ;  ib.  viii, '  latebrosa 
et  lucifuga  natio '  ("  lurking  in  dens  and  darkness  "). 

1  On  this  see  Harnack's  elaborate  note  EO  i  306-7,  and  add  to  the 
authorities  there  cited,  Euseb.  HE  i  4, '  And,  indeed,  though  we  are 
evidently  a  new  people.* 

2  For  this  title  see  Harnack  EC  i  313,  336-52,  especially  the  quota- 
tions 343-8.     Cf.  Neumann  RSK  i  138.     The  '  first  race '  was  in- 
differently called  Roman, Greek, or  Gentile,  the  'second'  the  Jews.  The 
heathen  adopted  the  title  before  the  close  of  the  second  century ;  then 
the  cry  in  the  circus  of  Carthage  was:  'Usque  quo  genus  tertium?' 
("How  long  must  we  endure  this  third  race?"   Tert.  Scorp.    10). 
Tert.  ad  Nat,  i  8  and  i  20  is  emphatic  that  the  ground  of  classification 
was  religion,  not  race.     Harnack  o.c.  i  349  suggests  that  the  title  was 
"due  to  the  influence  of  the  writings  of  Varro,  who  had  a  genius  for 
classification."    It  seems  to  have  been  current  only  in  the  West.    The 
scorn  of  Tertullian  for  the  title  (see  especially  ad  Nat.  i  8)  seems  to 
me  to  be  fatal  to  Harnack's  idea  that  it  was  of  Christian  origin, 
though  undoubtedly  accepted  by  them. 

3  See  Hermas  Shep.  S  ix  7  for  an  allegorical  setting  forth  of 
this  idea. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATRED  191 


VII 

The  most  powerful  cause  of  hatred  yet  remains. 
The  Christians  professed  that  'nothing  was  more 
alien  to  them  than  politics ' ; l  in  reality,  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  Roman  governor,  they  were  intense 
politicians  of  a  most  dangerous  type.  The  Christians 
were  condemned,  not  because  of  their  theological 
views,  but  because  of  their  supreme  loyalty  to  a  law 
and  throne  outside  the  Roman  law  and  throne. 
They  were  not  anxious  to  run  counter  to  the  law  and 
customs  of  the  Empire ;  they  were,  in  fact,  unanimous 
in  upholding  them.2  But  if  at  any  time  such  law  and 
customs  came  into  conflict  with  the  will  of  God,  as 
interpreted  by  themselves  and  their  standards,  they 
must  obey  God  rather  than  man.  To  the  Roman 
executive,  which  demanded  absolute  submission  of 
will  and  life  from  all  its  subjects,  such  a  doctrine 
could  not  be  other  than  a  danger  to  the  State,  once 
its  purport  was  clear.  They  could  not  overlook  the 
existence  in  their  midst  of  '  a  new  people,'  '  a  third 
race/  of  cosmopolitan  character,  who  proclaimed 
openly  that  '  they  looked  for  a  kingdom ' ; 3  who  went 
so  far  as  to  *  frame  laws  for  themselves  according  to 
their  own  purposes,  and  observed  these  laws,' 4  and 

1  Tert.  Apol.  38, '  nee  ulla  magis  res  aliena  quam  publica.' 

2  Cf.  Justin  I  Apol  17;   Tatian  adv.  Oraecos  4;  Apost.  Conttit. 
iv.  13. 

3  Justin  M.  I  Apol.  11  and  cf.  Euseb.  MP  1,  5  Zacchaeus  and 
Alphaeus,  "who  were   put    to    death    for  saying   'Jesus  Christ  is 
emperor.' 

*  See  the  complaint  of  Galerius,  Euseb.  HE  viii  17. 


192        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

refused  to  obey  any  laws  which  ran  contrary  thereto, 
and  who  daily  grew  in  numbers,  influence,  and 
wealth. 

Nothing  is  more  natural  than  the  political  disgust 
and  hatred  which  the  Christians  in  consequence 
aroused.  If  to-day  powerful  governments  take  alarm 
lest  the  fealty  of  Roman  Catholics  to  the  Pope  should 
prove  stronger  under  certain  circumstances  than 
their  allegiance  to  the  state,  if  the  doctrine  of  Passive 
Resistance  excites  suspicion  among  many  who  claim 
that  a  man  cannot  be  a  loyal  citizen  who  accepts  its 
basis,  we  can  well  imagine  the  hatred  that  would 
well  out  against  the  Christians  when  first  they 
asserted  these  startling  doctrines  in  a  world  whose 
fabric,  civil  and  religious,  was  built  upon  the  absolu- 
tism of  Caesar.  Even  the  great  political  maxim  of 
Jesus,  'Render  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are 
Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's,' 
becomes  meaningless,  if  not  treasonable,  in  a  state 
that  made  little  difference  between  Caesar  and 
God.1 

The  refusal,  moreover,  of  the  Christians  to  worship 
Caesar  was  naturally  interpreted  by  judge  and  mob 
as  a  confession  of  disloyalty  to  the  Empire  and  its 
head.  In  not  a  few  of  their  trials,  which  for  the 
most  part  resolve  themselves  into  cases  of  high 
treason,  we  find  the  Christians  protesting  their 
loyalty  and  devotion  to  Caesar,  but  at  the  same  time 
laying  emphasis  upon  its  limits.  Said  one  of  the 
Scillitan  martyrs,  '  We  give  honour  to  Caesar  as 

1  Tert.  de  Tdol  15,  « If  all  is  Caesar's,  what  will  remain  for  God?' 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATKED  193 

Caesar;  we  offer  worship  (timorem)  to  God  alone.'1 
This  was,  in  fact,  in  their  case,  as  in  that  of  the 
majority  of  Christians,  the  cause  of  their  condemna- 
tion. We  see  this  clearly  brought  out  in  their  formal 
sentence : 

'  Speratus  and  the  rest  having  confessed  that  they  are  Christians, 
and  haviug  refused  to  render  worship  to  Caesar,  I  pronounce  that  they 
be  punished  with  the  sword*' 

Tertullian  is  equally  explicit : 

Therefore  as  to  what  relates  to  the  honour  due  to  kings  or 
emperors,  we  have  sufficiently  laid  it  down  that  it  behoves  us  to 
render  all  obedience,  according  to  the  apostle's  precept,  but  within 
the  limits  of  our  discipline  and  provided  that  we  keep  ourselves  free 
from  idolatry  (De  Idol  15). 

The  popular  feeling  in  this  matter  was  correct. 
Many  passages  no  doubt  can  be  adduced  expressive  of 
tho  utmost  loyalty.  A  beautiful  Litany  for  those 

'  to  whom  Thou  hast  given  the  power  of  sovereignty,  through  Thine 
excellent  and  unspeakable  might,  that  we,  knowing  the  glory  and 
honour  which  Thou  hast  given  them,  may  submit  ourselves  unto 
them;  .  .  .  Grant  unto  them,  therefore,  O  Lord,  that  they  may 
administer  the  government  which  Thou  hast  given  them  without 
failure ' 

forms  the  conclusion  of  the  letter  of  the  first  apostolic 
Father,  who  in  this  was  but  following  the  example  of 

1  Gebhardt  AMS  24.  As  we  shall  make  several  references  to  the 
Scillitan  martyrs  (i.e.  from  Scili,  less  probably  Scillium  or  Scillita,  in 
Numidia,  see  Neumann  ESK  i  71  n.)>  we  may  refer  here  to  Dean 
Kobinson's  study  and  text  (in  TS  1891  (I),  106  ff.)  of  this  most 
interesting  trial.  The  text  only  will  be  found  in  Gebhardt  AMS 
22-7,  or  Anal  Bolland  viii  (1)  5-8.  For  the  true  date  of  their 
martyrdom— July  17,  180,  and  not  202  as  formerly  accepted  (before 
Usener's  publication  in  1881  of  a  new  MS.)— see  Robinson  o.e.  or 
Lightf.  Ign.  i  524-7.  See  infra  p.  227  n.  1  (II).  According  to  Tert. 
ad  Scap.  3,  their  persecutor  Vigcllius  Saturninus  lost  his  sight. 

O 


194        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

St.  Paul.1  Prayers  for  the  emperors,  in  fact,  constituted 
a  fixed  part  of  the  organization  of  Christian  worship 
from  the  first.  Tertullian  gives  us  a  moving  picture 
of  the  Church  on  its  knees  for  Caesar,  'with  hands 
outspread,  with  head  uncovered,  without  a  prompter,' 
and  with  bitter  irony  exhorts  the  magistrates  'to 
draw  forth  with  tortures  the  souls  that  are  thus  loyally 
pleading  with  God '  for  one  whom  the  Christians  hold 
to  be  'second  to  God  alone.'3  'The  Christian,'  he 
argues, 

'  is  the  enemy  of  no  man,  assuredly  not  of  the  Emperor,  whom  he 
knows  to  be  ordained  of  God.  Of  necessity  therefore  he  loves, 
reveres,  and  honours  him,  and  prays  for  his  safety,  with  that  of  the 
whole  Roman  Empire,  that  it  may  endure — as  endure  it  will — as  long 
as  the  world  itself  (ad  Scap.  2). 

But  Tertullian  was  writing  an  apology.  In  our 
judgement  the  Apocalypse,  or  the  Christian  interpella- 
tions in  the  Sibylline  Oracles,  represent  much  more 
accurately  the  real  views  of  the  early  Church  upon  the 
Empire.  The  noble  conception  which  St.  Paul  had 
formed  of  using  the  Empire  and  its  institutions  as  a 
means  for  the  spread  of  Christianity  was  one  natural 
to  a  Koman  citizen ;  in  practice  Christianity  and  the 
Empire  proved  fundamentally  antagonistic,  if  only 
because  they  were  rivals  in  conception  and  method. 
Each  claimed  to  be  a  kingdom  of  universal  sway; 
each  created  a  Church  of  universal  obligation,  each 
demanded  absolute  fealty  to  its  supreme  Lord. 

1  Clem.  Rom.  Ep.  Cor.  cc.  60-1.  This  Litany  is  not  found  in  the 
earlier  MSS.  of  Clement  (so  in  consequence  not  in  Lightf.  Clem. 
1st  ed.);  cf.  I  Tim.  ii  1,  2 ;  Justin  I  Apol.  17;  Athenag.  Plea  37. 

»  Tert.  Apol.  30,  39, 


THE  CAUSES  OF  HATKED  195 

Between  Caesar  and  Christ  there  could  he  no  com- 
promise, at  any  rate  on  the  existing  footing  of 
Caesar.1  When  Celsus  pleaded  that  the  ideas  of 
Christians,  if  carried  out,  meant  the  destruction  of 
existing  society,  he  was  but  urging  a  truth  hidden 
from  Origen  and  other  apologists.2 

Such  were,  in  the  main,  the  causes  of  the  charge 
against  Christianity  of  '  hostility  to  the  race  or  state.' 
From  the  standpoint  of  our  present  purpose  the 
reader  should  note  that  persecution  was  the  direct 
outcome  of  the  Christian  doctrine  of  renunciation. 
For  the  causes  which  led  to  popular  and  official  hatred 
were  not  theological,  or  the  outcome  of  esoteric 
doctrines  of  worship,  or  the  result  of  certain  ethical 
postulates.  Nor  were  they  the  result  of  religious 
animosity.  Polytheism  as  such  is  indifferent  whether 
a  man  worship  one  God  or  twenty.  They  were  rather 
the  outcome  of  the  fundamental  tenet  of  primitive 
Christianity,  that  the  Christian  ceased  to  be  his  own 
master,  ceased  to  have  his  old  environment,  ceased 
to  hold  his  old  connexions  with  the  state ;  in  every- 
thing he  became  the  bondservant  of  Jesus  Christ, 
in  everything  owing  supreme  allegiance  and  fealty 
to  the  new  Empire  and  the  Crucified  Head.  'We 
engage  in  these  conflicts,1  said  Tertullian,  '  as  men 
whose  very  lives  are  not  our  own  .  .  .  We  have  no 
master  but  God.' 8  '  What  is  thy  condition  ? '  said  the 

1  This  was  written  before  the  publication  in  the  Eibbert  Journal 
(January,  1906)  of  an  article  Caesar  or  Christ,  by  Principal  Iverach, 
expressing  the  same  conclusions  in  almost  identical  words. 

3  See  Appendix  J.  »  Ad  8cap.  1,  5. 


196        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

judge  to  the  martyr  Maximus.  '  I  am  a  free  man,' 
was  the  reply,  '  but  the  slave  of  Christ.'  Similar  was 
the  answer  of  Febronia,  a  wealthy  and  beautiful 
virgin.  '  A  slave ! '  asked  the  judge  Selenus,  in  sur- 
prise; 'whose  slave?'  'The  slave  of  Christ/1  But 
the  rise  of  the  'slaves  of  Christ'  meant  the  fall  of 
the  rule  of  the  Caesars.  As  St.  John  saw  clearly,  the 
Empire  (Kodjuoc)  was  bound  to  hate  the  Church. 
Nor  was  the  hatred  the  less  because  the  Empire 
knew  that  it  was  in  the  pangs  of  dissolution ;  '  the 
world/  said  the  seer,  '  is  passing  away.' 2 

1  Geb.  AMS  121  or  AM  157.  Maximus  was  martyred  at  Ephesus 
a  few  months  after  Pionius,  cf.  infra  p.  330.  For  Febronia,  see  A. 
SS  June  vii.  12-27.  Her  Acts,  originally  in  Greek  or  Syriac,  though 
touched  up  in  the  interests  of  monasticism,  possibly  contain  a  genuine 
kernel.  (The  version  in  Dunbar's  Saintly  Women  (1904)  i  309  is 
wholly  for  edification.)  In  the  Roman  legal  interrogations  of 
Christians  the  order  is  almost  invariably,  as  in  the  examination  ol 
Maximus,  (1)  name,  (2)  condition,  (3)  family,  (4)  country,  (5) 
profession,  (6)  rank.  The  student  will  learn  much  by  taking  a  few 
Acta  and  noting  this.  See  Le  Blant  SAM  211-7. 

8  I  John  iii  13  with  Westcott's  note  on  KJo-^os,  I  Ep.  John  255. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE   GREAT  PERSECUTIONS 

'  Blessed  are  they  which  are  persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake : 
for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Blessed  are  ye,  when  men  shall 
revile  you,  and  persecute  you,  and  shall  say  all  manner  of  evil 
against  you  falsely,  for  My  sake.  Eejoice,  and  be  exceeding  glad : 
for  great  is  your  reward  in  heaven :  for  so  persecuted  they  the 
prophets  which  were  before  you.' — Matt,  v  10-12. 

*And  I  saw  the  woman  drunken  with  the  blood  of  the  saints,  and 
with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus.  And  when  I  saw  her 
I  wondered  with  a  great  wonder.' — Apoc.  xvii  6. 

'  For  martyrdoms,  I  reckon  them  amongst  miracles ;  because  they 
seem  to  exceed  the  strength  of  human  nature.' 

BACON. 

*  For  all  the  saints  who  from  their  labours  rest, 
Who  Thee  by  faith  before  the  world  confessed, 
Thy  name,  O  Jesu,  bo  for  ever  blessed. 
Alleluia.' 


CONTENTS 

§  I,  p.  199.  The  number  of  the  martyrs — Misconceptions — The  great 
persecutions — Two  periods. 

§  II,  p.  202.  The  persecution  of  Nero-— Of  Domitian. 

§  III,  p.  208.  Trajan  —  His  correspondence  with  Pliny  —  Martyrs 
under  Trajan  —  Hadrian  —  His  Character  — *  Delation  *  —  His 
Rescript  to  Minicius  Fundanus — Hennas'  Shepherd. 

§  IV,  p.  220.  Antoninus  Pius — Marcus  Aurelius — His  character— 
His  views  on  Renunciation — Antipathy  to  Christianity — Perse- 
cution under — Commodus  and  Marcia. 

§  V,  p.  229.  A  new  era — Growth  of  the  Church — The  great  struggle 
— Exaggerations— The  unequal  contest — Septimus  Severus — 
Elagabulus— Alexander  Severus — Maximin — Philip  the  Arab 
— Decius — His  edicts — Great  persecution — Fabian,  Cyprian, 
Dionysius,  and  Origen — End  of  the  persecution. 

§  VI,  p.  251.  Valerian— His  character — Macrianus— The  great  perse- 
cution—Xystus — Fall  of  Valerian — Peace  of  Gallienus— Origin 
of  the  Catacombs— Burial  clubs — The  sanctity  of  graves. 

§  VII,  p.  265.  Diocletian— Outbreak  of  persecution — Galerius  Maxi- 
mian— Passion  let  loose — Alban— Searching  for  Bibles — Felix  of 
Aptungi— Felix  of  Tibjuca— Euplius— Retirement  of  Diocletian 
— Maximin  Daza — A  reign  of  Terror— Interposition  of  Constantine 
—Edict  of  Milan. 

Pp.  199-282. 


THE  reader  who  has  followed  our  investigation  will 
be  in  a  position  to  answer  the  further  question: 
Were  the  martyrs  of  the  Early  Church  many  or  few  ? l 
The  question  is  not  one  of  mere  statistics  or  curiosity. 
Especially  is  the  answer  of  importance  for  our  present 
purpose.  Was  this  supreme  renunciation  a  rare  or 
common  event,  a  factor  so  infrequent  that  so  far  as 
the  general  run  of  Christians  is  considered  it  might 
be  neglected  ;  or  was  persecution,  or  at  any  rate  the 
fear  of  it,  part  of  the  price  that  each  Christian  was 
called  upon  to  pay  ?  Unfortunately,  the  question,  at 
the  best  not  easy  to  answer,  has  become  mixed  up 
with  theological  polemics.  Some  have  represented 
the  Roman  magistrates  as  men  of  singular  humanity 
and  moderation,  whose  "  philosophy  "  led  them,  as  a 
rule,  to  decline  the  task  of  persecution,  or  who,  at 
most,  singled  out  here  and  there  some  Christian  dis- 
tinguished in  rank  or  influence  by  whose  death  they 
might  strike  terror  into  the  whole  sect.  Others,  on 
the  other  hand,  have  reckoned  the  battalions  of  the 
"noble  army  of  martyrs"  as  almost  inexhaustible. 
'  There  is  no  day  in  the  whole  year/  wrote  Jerome, 

1  On  p.  64  this  question  was  briefly  considered  in  a  different 
connexion.    See  further  the  discussion  in  Appendix  F. 


200        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EAELY  CHURCH 

in  his  epistle  to  Heliodorus, '  unto  which  the  number 
of  five  thousand  martyrs  cannot  be  ascribed,  except 
only  the  first  day  of  January.*  But  compared  with 
later  stories  the  computation  of  Jerome  was  moderate. 
It  is,  at  any  rate,  somewhat  borne  out  by  the  state- 
ment of  Eusebius,  that  in  the  persecution  in  the 
Thebais  as  many  as  one  hundred  martyrs  a  day  were 
often  sacrificed,  '  so  that  the  weapons  of  the  murderers 
were  completely  blunted.' l 

The  truth,  as  is  generally  the  case,  lies  between 
the  two  extremes.  We  may  dismiss  at  once  the 
incredible  legends,  in  which  the  mediaeval  Church 
delighted,  of  the  thousands  of  virgins  or  soldiers  slain 
at  Cologne,2  on  Mount  Ararat,8  and  the  like.  Accuracy 
in  figures  is  but  a  modern  foible.  But  with  equal 
justice  may  we  claim  as  an  exaggeration  the  idea 
that  the  penal  laws  against  the  Christians  were  not 
put  into  force,  save  at  certain  rare  and  infrequent 
intervals.  The  Christians,  like  the  anarchists  of 
Eussia,  were  always  liable  to  persecution  and  death  ; 
the  smouldering  fires  of  popular  hatred  or  official 

1  Euseb.  HE  viii  9.    But  Gibbon  (ii  137  n.)  rightly  points  out 
that  Euseb.  knew  only  the  Thebais  by  hearsay.    In  Palestine,  where 
he  had  been  an  eye-witness,  he  mentions  only  ninety-two  cases  in  all. 

2  Cf.  Acts  of  PJiocas,  infra  p.  212  n.      Nevertheless  even  in  the 
case  of  St.  Ursula  and  the  Eleven  Thousand  there  seems  some 
groundwork  of  fact,  either  a  misreading  of  XI  M.V.,  i.e.  martyres 
virgines  into  millici  virginum,  or  more  probably,  as  De  Buck  contends 
a  great  massacre  of  Christians  at  Cologne  by  the  Huns  alter  their 
return  from  defeat  at  Chalons  in  451.     For  the  whole  subject  see 
Owens  College  Hist.  Essays  17-56  and  the  learned  treatise  of  De 
Buck  in  A.S8  Oct.  ix  73-303. 

»  For  this  story  see  an  investigation  in  ray  Letters  of  Bus,  249  n. 


THE  GKEAT  PEKSECUTIONS  201 

zeal  might  break  out  against  them  at  any  moment. 
They  lived  from  day  to  day  conscious  of  a  danger  to 
which  they  were  exposed,  and  which  some  act  of 
indiscretion  on  their  part  might  bring  to  a  head. 
We  may  grant  that  the  outbreak  of  persecution  in 
systematic  form  was  an  infrequent  occurrence; 
depending  chiefly  on  local  circumstances  of  popular 
feeling,  on  the  zeal,  superstition,  or  humanity  of  the 
district  magistrates.  There  were,  however,  seasons  of 
special  activity  in  persecution — enumerated  by  the 
early  Church  as  ten  in  all — when  the  hatred  against 
the  Christians  burst  forth,  not  locally,  but  over  wide 
areas.  The  history  of  these  great  persecutions,  their 
causes,  special  features,  and  results,  claims  our 
notice. 

Hitherto  in  our  treatment,  in  order  that  we  might 
the  better  grasp  the  broad  outlines,  we  have  neglected 
to  some  extent  the  notes  of  time.  We  have  treated 
the  age  of  persecution  as  if  it  were  a  unity  in  itself. 
Such  a  broad  generalization  of  a  movement  stretching 
over  a  period  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  though 
advantageous  for  the  simplification  of  our  argument, 
needs  of  course  considerable  revision.  There  are,  in 
fact,  two  main  periods  into  which  the  history  of  perse- 
cution in  the  early  Church  may  be  divided.  The  one 
period,  marked  by  outbreaks  neither  systematic  nor 
severe,  closes  with  the  early  years  of  the  third  cen- 
tury. The  other  period  is  characterized  by  a  desperate 
struggle,  or  rather  series  of  struggles,  between  the 
Empire  and  the  Church,  and  closes  with  the  triumph 
of  the  Church  under  Constantine.  These  two  periods 


202       PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

are  not  mere  artificial  marks  of  time.  They  corre- 
spond to  a  real  distinction  upon  which  too  much 
stress  cannot  be  laid.  In  the  first  period  the  Church 
was  comparatively  small  and  weak-  and  by  no  means 
widely  represented ;  in  the  second  period  the  Empire 
woke  up  to  discover  a  vast  hostile  organization  created 
in  its  midst,  whose  rapid  growth  in  every  land  was 
sweeping  all  before  it.  Thus  in  the  first  period 
persecution  was  fitful  and  local,  the  result  rather  of 
passing  hates  than  clear  statesmanship ;  in  the 
second  period  the  State  bent  all  its  energies  to  the 
task,  deliberately  undertaken,  of  crushing  out  the 
Church  before  it  was  too  late.  In  the  first  period  the 
number  of  martyrs  was  but  few,  for  the  Christians 
themselves  were  not  numerous ;  in  the  second  period 
there  were  times  of  wholesale  massacre,  though 
usually,  as  in  other  similar  cases,  the  persecution 
was  intensive  rather  than  extensive. 

II 

The  first  of  the  ten  persecutions,  to  follow  for  the 
time  the  traditional  reckoning,  was  that  of  Nero.1 
This,  though  certainly  local  rather  than  universal, 
stamped  itself  for  ever  upon  the  memory  of  the 
Church  by  reason  of  its  fiendish  cruelties  as  well  as 

1  In  reading  this  chapter  the  student  should  refresh  his  memory 
of  the  details  of  Roman  history  and  its  emperors  from  Tiberius  to 
Constantino.  He  cannot  do  better  than  keep  Bury's  Gibbon  by  his 
side.  Duruy  HR  is  well  illustrated.  For  all  sources  of  secular 
affairs  the  student  should  look  to  one  of  these.  The  Chronological 
Table  that  I  have  supplied  will  be  found  of  use. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  203 

its  distinguished  victims.  The  number  who  suffered 
is  unknown.  Tacitus,  it  is  true,  speaks  of  a  '  vast 
multitude '  in  Eome  alone  ;  but  we  have  no  means  of 
checking  his  rhetoric.1  The  total  loss  of  the  early 
written  records  of  the  Boman  Church  has  robbed  us  of 
all  names.  Only  with  difficulty  can  we  recover  the 
story  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul.  The  rest  is  a  blank. 
Under  the  Flavians  there  was  a  respite,  so  far,  at 
any  rate,  as  an  organized  persecution  was  concerned,2 
until  the  second  great  outbreak  under  Domitian.8 
The  Christians  were  not  alone  in  suffering  from  the 
cruel  and  suspicious  nature  of  this  tyrant.  The 
inner  secret  of  that  sombre  reign  is  still  a  mystery, 
but  of  the  agony  of  the  Roman  world  under  his  rule 
there  can  be  no  doubt.  Domitian  united  ability  and 
astuteness  with  timidity  and  cruelty.  He  seems  to 
have  been  anxious,  also,  to  conceal  his  vices,  perhaps 
from  himself,  certainly  from  others,  by  a  scrupulous 
devotion  to  the  old  forms  of  religion.4  So  he  flung 
his  whole  strength  into  a  moral  and  religious  reaction, 
and,  in  accordance  with  this  design,  sought  to  crush 
out  the  Christians.  Domitian  struck  at  the  highest, 

1  Ann.  xv  44.    Gibbon  aptly  quotes  Livy  xxxix  13,  14.    On  the 
other  hand,  Apoc.  xvii  6  points  to  a  large  number  (i.e.  assuming  its 
Neronian  date),  and  cf.  Clem.  Cor.  6  iro\ii  Tr\r)0os. 

2  See  supra  p.  55  n.  for  qualifications.      Isolated  persecutions 
possibly  went  on. 

a  For  persecution  under  Domitian  our  authorities  are  Clem.  Rom. 
Ep.  5-7.  (Note  'We  are  in  the  same  lists,  and  the  same  contests 
await  us,'  and  for  date  cf.  infra  p.  206  n.)  Melito  in  Euseb.  HE  iv  26 ; 
also  HE  iii  17-20  (c.  17  is  ambiguous),  and  Chron.  ii  160  (ed. 
Schoene)  Tert.  Apol.  5  Lactant.  de  mort.  Persec.  3. 

4  See  the  references  in  Renan  Lea  Evang.  291. 


204       PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

putting  to  death  '  as  an  innovator '  ('  quasi  molitores 
rerum  novarum ')  the  ex-consul  Acilius  Glahrio,1 
whom  he  had  compelled  (A.D.  91)  to  fight  against  a 
lion  and  two  bears;  also  'for  atheism,'  Flavius 
Clemens,  his  cousin,  who  was  either  consul  at  that 
time  or  had  but  recently  resigned  the  office,  and 
whose  two  sons  were  Domitian's  destined  heirs  in 

1  The  main  sources,  apart  from  the  archaeological,  for  our  know- 
ledge of  Glabrio,  Flavius  Clemens,  &c.,  will  be  found  in  Dio.  Cass. 
Ixvii  14 ;  Suet  Dom.  10, 15, 17 ;  Euseb.  HE  iii  18 ;  Chron.  ed  Schoene 
ii  160 ;  GIL  vi  948.  (All  the  above  are  given  in  full  in  Lightf.  Clem. 
i  104  ff. ;  or  briefly  in  ib.  Phil  22  n.)  Kenan  Les  Evang.  228  ff. 
inclined  to  believe  that  Clement  became  a  Jew,  though  his  wife  may 
have  been  a  Christian.  But  Judaism  surely  would  not  be  called 
*  atheism.'  De  Rossi  has  shown  how  closely  Domitilla  was  associated 
with  the  Christians.  The  Catacomb  of  Tor  Marancia  on  the  Ardea- 
tine  Way  seems  to  have  been  given  by  her  to  her  fellow  Christians, 
and  many  Christian  Flavii  of  the  second  century  are  buried  therein. 
See  de  Rossi  E8  i  131  ff.  or  Lanciani  PCR  335-45,  Lightf.  Clem,  i 
35-9,  Renan  Evang.  342  n.,  or  Allard  I  HP  96-115. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  Flavius  Clemens  the  consul  was  the 
son  of  the  Flavius  Sabinus  who,  as  city  prefect,  must  have  been  the 
chief  executor  of  Nero's  hatred  against  the  Christians  (Lightfoot 
Clem,  i  75-6).  The  persecution,  or  rather  the  heroism  of  the  martyrs, 
may  have  been  the  beginning  of  the  son's  conversion.  Another 
relative  of  Flavius  Clemens  and  of  Domitian  was  certainly  a  Christian 
martyr.  This  was  Aurelia  Petronilla,  the  daughter  of  Titus  Flavius 
Petron,  an  uncle  of  Vespasian.  Later  ages  by  mistaken  etymology 
made  her  the  daughter  of  St.  Peter,  and  preserved  in  a  distorted  form 
the  memory  of  a  martyr  otherwise  unknown.  The  discovery  of  her 
tomb  in  1875  has  shown  the  real  truth  which  underlay  the  tradition 
(DCB  iv  327  or  Lanciani  I.e.,  Northcote  and  Brownlow  RS  i  176-86). 

The  Christianity  of  Manius  Acilius  Glabrio  is  not  certain,  but 
seems  probable.  See  on  the  one  side  Lanciani  PCR  4-9,  who  gives  an 
account  of  de  Rossi's  discovery  in  1888  of  the  crypt  of  the  family  in 
the  Catacomb  of  Priscilla,  conclusively  proving  the  Christianity,  at 
any  rate,  of  his  near  relatives  and  freedmen,  or  Allard  o.c.  113-5  ;  and 
on  the  other  Lightf.  Clem,  i  81  n.,  Aube'  PE  164-8.  On  the  whole, 
f  incline  to  the  affirmative. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  205 

the  Empire.  On  the  same  charge  of  'atheism*  he 
banished  Clemens'  wife  Domitilla,  his  own  niece,  to 
Pontia,1  a  little  island  in  the  Tyrrhene  sea  (A.D.  95). 
There  in  a  narrow  cell,  in  later  years  (385)  visited  by 
the  lady  Paula  when  on  her  travels,  '  Domitilla  drew 
out  a  long  martyrdom  for  the  confession  of  the 
Christian  name.'  Not  long  afterwards  Domitian  was 
slain  by  Stephen,  the  steward  of  Domitilla.2 

According  to  tradition,  the  wrath  of  Domitian  fell 
on  others  in  the  Church  even  more  illustrious  than 
his  cousins.  He  is  said  to  have  put  to  death  Clement 
the  Christian  doctor,  the  third  or  fourth  bishop  of 
Rome.3  Tradition  affirms  that  he  struck  at  the  aged 

1  See  Lightf.  Clem,  i  49-50,  but  Renan  Les  Evang.  296  inclines  to 
Pandateria  with  Dio.  Cass.    But  many  writers  (especially  R.C.)  make 
two  Flavia  Domitillas,  one  the  wife  of  the  consul,  and  the  other  her 
niece.    The  aunt  was  banished  to  Pandataria,  the  other  to  Pontia. 
The  matter  has  been  hotly  disputed  since  Scaliger's  day ;  see  Allard 
I  HP  109  n.,  or  DCB  i  875. 

2  Jerome  Ep.  108  §  7 ;  Suet.  Dom.  17.     Whether  Stephen  was  a 
Christian  we  do  not  know.    The  language  put  into  his  mouth  at  the 
murder  (Philostratus  Vit.   Apollon.  viii  25)  has  a  Christian  ring: 
*  Clement,  your  enemy  is  not  dead  as  you  think'  (Lightf.  Clem,  i  41). 
But  according  to  Suet.  Dom.  17,  Stephen's  motive  was  to  cover  up 
a  charge  of  peculation  (Allard  I  HP  132-3). 

3  Attempts  have  been  made  in  Germany  to  identify  Clement  the 
bishop  and  Clement  the  consul.     See  Lightf.  Clem,  i  52  n.    The  sole 
authority  in  favour  of  it  would  seem  to  be  the  worthless  fourth- 
century  Clementine  romance  in  the  -Homilies  and  Recognitions,  and 
this  only  indirectly  (Lightf.  I.e.  i  55,  23  n).    Clement  the  bishop  was 
much  more  likely  a  freedman  in  the  house  of  the  consul  (t&.  61), 
though  even  in  that  case,  as  Renan  points  out  (Evang.  311  n.),  he 
would  have  been  called  Flavius,  and  not  Clement.    Moreover,  there 
are  some  indications  (t'6.  313)  that  Clement  the  bishop  was  a  Jew 
by  birth.     The    statement    that   he  was    a    Roman    *de    regione 
celiomonte '  in  LP  i  123  is  taken  from  Recog.  Clem,  i  1,  vii  8,  and  from 


206       PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

apostle  John.  The  apostle  of  love  escaped,1  but  how 
great  was  the  danger  of  the  Christians  under  this 
tyrant  may  be  seen  in  the  well-known  tale,  recorded 
by  Dion,  of  Domitian's  funeral  banquet  to  a  select 
number  of  nobles  : 


the  situation  of  the  church  of  that  name.  For  the  martyrdom  of 
Clement  the  bishop,  his  exile  to  Cherson,  &c.,  the  earliest  authority 
is  the  fictitious  Acts  of  Clement^  a  romance  of  the  second  half  of  the 
fourth  century.  They  may  be  read  in  Migne  PG  ii  617  ff.,  or  Funk 
PP.  Apost.  i  808  ff.  See  also  Lightf.  Clem,  i  85-90.  De  Rossi 
considers  that  the  whole  story  rests  upon  his  confusion  with  a  later 
Crimean  martyr  of  the  same  name.  According  to  Euseb.  HE  iii  34, 
Jerome  de  Vir.  III.  15,  Clement  the  bishop  died  *  in  the  third  year  of 
Trajan,'  i.e.  A.D.  100.  So  LP  i  123,  with  the  addition  of  the  word  '  as 
a  martyr ' ;  but  Irenaeus  Haer.  iii  3  knows  nothing  of  his  martyrdom. 

The  confusion  of  the  two  Clements  may  be  found  also  in  the 
question  as  to  the  ownership  of  the  famous  third  or  lowest  of  the 
churches  in  the  basilica  of  St.  Clement  at  Rome.  Lightf.  (Clem,  i 
94-5)  believed  that  this  was  part  of  the  house  of  the  consul;  de 
Rossi  of  the  bishop.  At  one  time  it  became  perverted  to  the  rites  of 
Mithra  (see  supra  p.  83). 

As  I  incline  to  a  later  date  for  the  Epistle  of  St.  Clement,  I  see 
no  reason  to  reject  the  succession  of  bishops  of  Rome  as  Linus,  Cletus, 
Clement.  See  Duchesne  LP  i  Introd.  Ixix-lxxii;  Irenaeus  Haer.  iii 
3 ;  Harnack  CAL  i  144  ff.  The  question  of  succession  is  bound  up 
with  the  date  of  the  Epistle.  This  has  been  assigned  as  late  as 
Hadrian,  and  as  early  as  Nero.  If  we  date  with  Lightf.  (Clem,  i 
346-58)  as  the  last  year  of  Domitian,  or  the  first  of  Nerva  (95  or  96), 
we  must  face  the  difficulty  stated  in  App.  A  as  to  St.  John.  The 
Ancient  Homily  (often  cited  as  2nd  Ep.  Cor.)  bound  up  with  Ep. 
Clem,  ad  Cor.  is  anonymous.  Its  genuineness  was  doubted  by  Euseb. 
HE  iii  37  and  rejected  by  Jerome  (Vir.  HI  15).  Aa  it  has  no 
bearing  on  our  subject,  its  date  need  not  detain  us. 

1  See  App.  B,  infra.  According  to  Dio.  Cass.  Ixviii  1,  Nerva  re- 
called Domitian's  exiles.  Among  them,  according  to  Clem.  Alex, 
(quoted  supra  p.  47  n.).  and  Jerome  Vir.  III.  9,  was  St.  John.  How 
was  it,  then,  he  did  not  recall  Domitilla?  ('longum  martyrium 
duxerat,'  Jerome  Ep.  108  §  7). 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  207 

*  So  he  fitted  up  an  apartment  all  in  black.  The  ceiling  was  black, 
the  walls  were  black,  the  pavement  was  black,  and  upon  it  were 
ranged  rows  of  bare  stone  seats,  black  also.  The  guests  were 
introduced  at  night  without  their  attendants,  and  each  might  see 
at  the  head  of  his  couch  a  column  placed,  like  a  tombstone,  on  which 
his  own  name  was  engraved,  with  a  cresset  lamp  above  it,  such  as 
is  suspended  in  the  tombs.  Presently  there  entered  a  troop  of  naked 
boys,  black  also,  who  danced  a  horrid  dance,  and  then  stood  still, 
offering  the  guests  the  morsels  of  food  which  are  commonly  presented 
to  the  dead.  The  guests  were  paralysed  with  terror,  expecting  death 
at  every  moment — the  more  so  as,  amid  the  deep  silence  of  the 
company,  Domitian  spake  of  the  things  that  appertain  to  the  state  of 
the  dead'  (Dio.  Cass.  Ixvii  4). 

In  this  case  Domitian's  delight  in  exquisite  torture 
did  not  end  tragically ;  but  the  result  was  generally 
otherwise.  If  Juvenal's  satire  is  true,  that  even  to 
talk  with  Domitian  about  the  weather  was  to  cast 
hazards  for  your  life,  how  real  was  the  peril  of  those 
who  through  allegiance  to  Christ  disdained  to  ascribe 
to  a  suspicious  madman  the  divinity  on  which  he 
laid  such  stress  ! 1  This  tale  points,  moreover,  to  one 
characteristic  of  Domitian's  persecution,  as  distinct 
from  that  of  Nero.  The  Neronian  persecution  had 
proved  "a  wholesale  onslaught  of  reckless  fury," 
somewhat  restricted,  it  is  true,  in  its  area ;  that  of 
Domitian  was  "  a  succession  of  sharp,  sudden,  partial 
assaults,  striking  down  one  here  and  one  there  from 
malice  or  jealousy  or  caprice,  and  harassing  the 
Church  with  an  agony  of  suspense."  a 

1  Juven.  Sat.  iv  87.    See  also  supra  p.  97  n.  1. 
8  Lightfoot  Ckm.  i  81. 


208        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 


III 

The  murder  of  Domitian  ushered  in  the  golden 
age  of  the  Empire.  From  Nerva  to  Marcus  Aurelius 
a  succession  of  rulers  of  rare  gifts  and  insight  pre- 
served the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  world,  in  spite 
of  the  signs  of  growing  bankruptcy  and  dissolution. 
But  for  the  Church  their  rule  was  by  no  means  a 
golden  age  of  toleration.  The  depravity  of  a  Nero  or 
Domitian  has  too  often  led  apologists  and  historians 
astray.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was  not  the  worst 
emperors — a  favourite  fiction  of  the  apologists  in  their 
appeal  to  the  outside  public l — but  the  best  who  were 
the  persecutors  of  the  Church.  The  greater  the 
vigilance  of  the  emperor,  the  more  determined  he  was 
to  crush  out  sedition  and  disorder,  the  deeper  his 
sense  of  responsibility  for  the  preservation  of  the 
unity  of  his  vast  dominions,  the  more  was  he  likely 
to  come  into  conflict  with  so  divisive  a  factor  as  the 
religion  of  Jesus.  A  great  administrator,  Trajan  for 
instance,  just  because  he  was  firm  and  vigilant, 
"  would  send  a  Christian  to  punishment  with  no  more 
hesitation  and  remorse  than  if  it  had  been  a  question 
of  a  refractory  soldier  or  a  fugitive  slave."  2 

1  See  Lightf.  Ign.  i  2-4  n.,  who  aptly  cites  Lactant  de  Mort. 
Persec.  3,  4,  who  in  his  list  of  persecutors  skips  from  Domitian  to 
Decius.  Cf.  Melito  of  Sardis  Apology  in  Euseb.  HE  iv  26,  with  its 
stress  on  *  Nero  and  Domitian  alone '  as  persecutors.  Hence  forged 
letters  favourable  to  Christianity  are  always  attributed  to  "good" 
emperors.  See  infra  p.  220  n.  1,  and  add  as  a  further  illustration  the 
etory  of  the  Thundering  Legion,  supra  p.  186  n.  3. 

*  Duruy  HR  iv  819.    But  iv  819  n.  seems  to  me  wrong. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  209 

The  two  great  provincial  emperors,  Trajan  and 
Hadrian,  made  no  change  of  moment  in  the  policy  of 
their  predecessors.  The  Eoman  view  of  Christianity 
is  nowhere  better  illustrated  than  in  the  correspond- 
ence of  Pliny  and  Trajan.1  In  September,  111,  Pliny 
the  younger,  a  cultivated  Eoman  lawyer,  was  sent 
out  to  restore  order  in  the  disorganized  province  of 
Bithynia-Pontus.  About  a  year  after  his  arrival, 
when  sojourning,  probably,  at  Amisus,  in  the  eastern 
districts  of  his  rule,  he  received  anonymous  accusa- 
tions charging  '  many  persons '  with  Christianity. 
The  new  religion,  it  seems,  had  taken  considerable 
hold  of  the  whole  district,  both  in  town  and  country. 
According  to  Pliny,  who  possibly  exaggerated  matters 
in  order  to  magnify  his  vigilance,  the  temples  were 
abandoned,  the  trade  in  sacrificial  animals  and  in 
the  fodder  needful  for  their  keep  was  in  a  parlous  state. 

1  The  Letters  of  Pliny  and  Trajan  (Pliny  Eps.  96,  97)  will  be 
found  in  Lightf.  Ign.  i  50-6  or  KeiPs  Pliny,  Leipzig,  1870.  A  useful 
edition  with  English  notes  is  Merrill's  Selected  Letters  of  Pliny  or 
Hardy  Plinii  Epistulae  (many  of  the  views  since  retracted  in  his 
Christianity  and  Eoman  Government,  1891).  Merrill's  notes  are, 
however,  very  biassed. 

This  valuable  correspondence  depends  on  a  single  MS.  found  in 
Paris  about  1500,  used  by  several  scholars  about  1508,  and  never  since 
seen.  But  its  genuineness  is  beyond  question  (cf.  Renan  Les  Euang. 
476  n.).  The  lettres  re  Christians  were  possibly  known  to  Mf  lito  of 
Sardis  (Euseb.  EEiv  26,  so  Renan  I.e.  480 ;  contra  Lightf.  Ign.  i  2), 
and  are  mentioned  in  Tert.  Apol.  2,  from  whom  Euseb.  HE  iii  33  is 
derived  through  a  faulty  Greek  translation. 

For  their  date  (Sept.  Ill-early  113,  probably  winter  112)  see 
Harnack  CAL  i  256,  Lightf.  Ign.  ii  536,  Renan  o.c.  475.  The  real 
inwardness  of  the  correspondence  was  first,  brought  out  by  Neumann 
BSK  i  19-26.  See  also  Ramsay  ChE  c,  10,  Hardy  CRQ  c.  6,  for 
slight  variations  on  Neumann's  views. 

P 


210        PEESECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY   CHURCH 

Acting  on  information  volunteered,  probably,  by 
the  aggrieved  tradesmen,  the  police  arrested  the 
Christians,  and  Pliny  examined  them.  The  upshot 
was  various.  Some  acknowledged  the  charge,  and 
on  the  third  time  of  asking  were  at  once  ordered  off 
to  execution  as  if  they  were  assassins  or  coiners,  while 
the  Koman  citizens  among  them  were  despatched  to 
Home  to  await  Trajan's  pleasure.1  There  was  no 
delay,  no  searching  for  precedents,  no  uncertain  legal 
points  on  which  advice  might  be  necessary.  The 
mere  profession  of  Christianity  was  evidently  a  capital 
offence  in  itself,  without  the  test  of  refusal  to  worship 
the  emperor.  Some,  however,  denied,  and  substanti- 
ated their  denial  by  offering  wine  and  incense  to  Trajan 
as  the  fortune  or  guardian  spirit  of  the  Empire.2 
Others  claimed  they  had  ceased  to  be  Christians,  in 
some  cases,  as  far  back  as  twenty-five  years  previous 
to  the  trial.3  Such  were  now  willing  to  worship  the 
emperor  and  curse  Christ ;  to  this  last,  owns  Pliny, 
'  real  Christians  could  never  be  forced.'  Nevertheless 

1  On  the  importance  of  this  in  the  case  of  Ignatius,  see  infra  p.  335. 

2  Bithynia  was  the  earliest  province  of  Asia  to  build  a  temple  to 
Rome  and  Augustus  (Dio.  Cass.  li  20).    For  the  extent  of  Bithynia- 
Pontus,  see  Ramsay  ChE  224-5. 

3  This  is  important  as  a  proof  that  twenty-five  years  before  112 
(i.e.  87)  there  had  been  a  persecution  in  Bithynia,  which  led  to 
many  recanting.      Of   this    former  persecution  we  have  no  other 
record,  unless,  indeed,  Ramsay's  date  for  I  Peter  be  correct  (infra, 
App.  A).    But  I  Pet .  i  1  proves,  at  any  rate,  the  existence  of  Christiana 
at  an  early  date  in  Bithynia.     By  whom  the  Gospel  was  introduced 
is  not  known.     St.  Paul  had  passed  it  by  (Acts  xvi  7),  '  prevented  by 
the  Spirit,'  possibly  because  St.  Peter  was  already  at  work  there. 
It  is  important  to  note  the  considerable  Greek  population  in  Bithynia, 
especially  on  the  coast :  Mommsen  PEE  i  330. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  211 

they  maintained  that  when  they  were  Christians  they 
had  done  nothing  wrong : 

'  they  had  been  accustomed  to  meet  before  daybreak  on  a  fixed  day 
that  they  might  sing  a  hymn  to  Christ  as  God,  to  bind  themselves  by 
a  mystic  ordinance l  to  commit  no  crime,  neither  be  guilty  of  theft, 
robbery,  adultery,2  the  breaking  of  a  promise,  or  the  keeping  back 
of  a  pledge.' 

Later  in  the  day  they  assembled,  they  said,  for  a 
common  meal,  probably  the  agape,  an  action,  they 
owned,  contrary  to  the  imperial  edict  against  social 
clubs 3  which  Pliny  had  published  immediately  on  his 
arrival.4 

To  test  this  report  Pliny  examined  by  torture  two 
slave  women  (ancillae),  who  were  called  deaconesses,5 
but  could  discover  nothing  '  save  a  degrading  and 
irrational  superstition.'  Pliny  professed  to  feel  in  a 
dilemma.  He  apologizes  that  he  had  been  without 

1  Sacramentum.     See  Lightf.   Jgn.  i  51   n.    Hardy  and  others 
translate  '  by  an  oath.'    The  word,  it  is  true,  means  especially  tho 
soldier's  oath  of  allegiance,  but  in  view  of  Matt,  v  37  and  the  known 
reluctance  of  early  Christians  for  oaths,  I  prefer  the  other  rendering. 

2  Is  not  this  a  second-hand  quotation  of  I  Pet.  iv.  15,  an  epistle 
to  these  very  people  ? 

3  Hetaerias.     For  Trajan's  action  in  this  matter,  see  supra,  p.  68, 
and  Ep.  Plin.  102,  103. 

4  For  Pliny's  account  of  early  worship,  cf.  Justin  I  ApoL  55-7. 
Whether  the  sacramentum  and  agape  were  so  markedly  dissevered  in 
the  time  of  Pliny  is  a  matter  of  controversy.    By  the  time  of  Justin, 
o.c.  65,  67,  they  were  separate. 

5  Ministrae.     The  first  mention  of  this  order,  who  were  often 
widows  (cf.  I  Tim.  v  9).    Deacons  form  no  inconsiderable  proportion  of 
the  martyrs.    To  this  peril  their  office  of  looking  after  the  sick 
especially  exposed  them.    For  the  female  diaconate,  which  seems  to 
have  been  limited  to  the  East,  cf.  Uhlhorn  Christian  Charity  165  ff. 


212        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

any  previous  experience  of  these  investigations l  into 
the  case  of  Christians,  though  the  whole  tone  of  his 
letter  and  his  earlier  persecution  at  Amisus  show 
plainly  that  he  is  aware  of  a  recognized  method  of 
law  for  dealing  with  crimes  of  this  order.  But  his 
kindly  nature  prompts  him  to  point  out  to  Trajan 
certain  difficulties,  possibly  in  the  hope  of  obtaining 
some  mitigation  of  current  procedure.  Is  he,  he  asks, 
to  take  into  account  extenuating  circumstances  such 
as  youth  ?  Is  he  to  punish  Christians  simply  because 
of  their  religion — for  the  Name,  nomen  ipsum — and 
therefore  criminals  ipso  facto,  or  is  he  to  decide  by 
proved  misdeeds  ?  Further,  should  the  accused  recant 
is  that  sufficient,  without  punishment  for  holding 
such  baleful  errors  in  the  past  ? 2 

Trajan  answered  that  *  there  can  be  no  hard  and 
fast  rule.*  Christians  openly  accused  and  convicted 
must  be  punished;  that  they  purge  themselves  by 
performing  heathen  rites  will  suffice.  Moreover,  a 
magistrate  may  make  this  distinction  between  a  thief 

1  Cognitiones,  i.e.  executive  investigations  conducted  in  private  by 
the  Emperor  or  his  delegates  (the  prefect,  procurators,  &c.).     For  the 
meaning  of  this  word,  see  Ramsay  ChE  215-7 ;  Lewis  and  Short  Lat. 
Diet.  s.v.    Pliny's  experience   as  a  lawyer  had  lain  in  civil  cases 
(judicia)  before  the  centumviral  courts,  not  in  administration  or 
police  work.    See  also  Lightf.  Ign.  i  50. 

2  Of  this  persecution  under  Pliny,  Conybeare  has  pointed  out  the 
confirmation  given  by  the  possibly  genuine  Armenian  Acts  of  Phocas, 
crobably  written  at  the  close  of  second  century.    Phocas  seems  to  have 
been  martyred  under  Pliny's  successor,  Africanus  (MEG  89,  102). 
According  to  this  document,  about  500  suffered  under  Pliny  (MEG  92, 
111).     A  later  Greek  copyist,  after  his  kind,  turned  this  figure  into 
50,000.    All  that  Pliny  states  is  *nomina  multorum,'  say  fifty.     Cf. 
eupra  p.  203.     Against  Couybeare  see  Harnack  CAL  i  317  n. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  213 

or  murderer  and  a  Christian  ;  he  need  not  spend  his 
time  in  hunting  down  the  Christians  until  they  were 
formally  accused.  Anonymous  accusations,  whether 
of  Christianity  or  other  crime,  must  be  thrown  into 
the  paper  basket ;  '  they  form  a  bad  precedent  con- 
trary to  the  real  spirit  of  the  age/ l 

Trajan's  reply  puts  the  matter  into  a  nutshell. 
Tertullian,  it  is  true,  calls  it  a  self-contradiction,  and 
points  out  its  mixture  of  Jedburgh  justice  and  official 
laxity.2  But  Tertullian  was  one  of  the  hunted,  and 
the  logic  of  the  persecuted  and  the  persecutor  are 
never  in  agreement.  To  us  the  decision  seems  clear. 
To  be  a  Christian  is  to  be  an  outlaw,  as  in  fact  Pliny 
had  owned  by  his  action  at  Amisus.  But  zeal  should 
be  tempered  with  discretion.  So  long  as  the  Chris- 
tians are  kept  in  check,  the  magistrate  need  not  hunt 
them  down  until  he  is  obliged.  The  last  is  a  detail 
of  administration  the  wisdom  or  occasion  of  which 
each  governor  must  decide  for  himself,  for  Trajan 
expressly  refuses  'to  lay  down  a  general  principle 
which  may  serve  as  a  fixed  rule  of  procedure.'  The 
correspondence  gives  no  indication  that  Trajan  was 
inaugurating  a  new  policy,  commencing,  as  some  have 
claimed,  the  systematic  persecution  of  the  Christians.3 
Its  whole  drift,  in  fact,  is  rather  the  opposite — a  desire 

1  Trajan  bated  delatores;  see  Pliny  Paneg.  34,  85  for  his  vengeance 
on  them. 

2  Apol  2. 

3  On  this  see  Lightf.  Ign.  i  13;  Henderson  Nero  447.    All  that 
Trajan  did  was  to  point  out  that  the  previous  method  of  magisterial 
cognitio  had  better  give  place  to  a  regular  judidum  with  set  trial  and 
formal  accusation. 


214       PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

on  the  part  of  Pliny  to  change  a  policy  which  he  had 
discovered  led  to  much  suffering  inflicted  on  harmless 
if  deluded  fanatics.  Trajan's  concessions  also,  such 
as  they  were,  were  changes  in  procedure  rather  than 
in  the  law.  No  clearer  commentary  upon  the  renun- 
ciation involved  a  century  later  in  becoming  a 
Christian  can  he  found  than  the  fact  that  the  Christian 
apologists  looked  back  to  the  days  of  Trajan  as  times 
of  exceptional  liberty.1  Two  points  in  Trajan's  letter 
told  in  their  favour.  The  emperor  plainly  intimates 
that  the  magistrates  must  lead,  not  be  led  by  popular 
hatred  or  private  spleen.  The  necessity,  again,  of  the 
presence  of  a  formal  accuser  gave  the  Christians  a 
general  protection  which,  under  various  pleas,  enabled 
merciful  judges  to  dismiss  a  case  when  brought  into 
court.  Thus  Tertullian  tells  us  of  a  magistrate  called 
Pudens,  who,  when  a  Christian  was  brought  before 
him  '  without  the  presence  of  the  informer,'  tore  the 
charge-sheet  in  pieces  '  as  not  being  consistent  with 
the  imperial  edict.' a 

1  E.g.  Tert.  Apol  5, '  quas  Trajanus  ex  parte  frustrate  est  vetando 
inquiri  Christianos ' — a  complete  mistake  on  Tertullian's  part.  Cf. 
Sulpic.  Sev.  Chron.  ii  31,  and  see  supra  p.  208. 

Of  martyrdoms  under  Trajan,  in  addition  to  those  in  Bithynia- 
Pontus,  the  following  seem  to  me  certain:  (a)  Ignatius  at  Rome, 
infra  p.  335 ;  (&)  Synieon  of  Jerusalem,  supra  p,  124  n. ;  (c)  Zosimus 
end  Rufus  in  Macedonia  (Polycarp.  ad  Phil.  9).  On  the  alleged 
martyrdom  of  Clement  see  supra  p.  206  n.  The  Acts  of  Sharbil  and 
Barsamya  (Cureton  Syriac.  Docs.  41)  are  spurious.  But  how 
incomplete  are  our  sources  of  knowledge  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that 
but  for  the  heathen  Pliny  we  should  never  have  heard  of  the  martyrs 
of  Pontus. 

8  Tert.  Scap.  4,  Neumann  ESK  i  33  n.  dates  this  in  the  pro- 
consulship  of  Pudens  in  Cyrene  and  Crete,  a  few  years  before  166. 


THE  GEEAT  PERSECUTIONS  215 

Trajan's  successor,  the  Emperor  Hadrian,  another 
Spaniard  of  inferior  character  though  almost  equal 
administrative  ability,  appears  to  have  made  some 
slight  alteration,  more  favourable  to  the  Christians, 
in  the  legal  procedure.  The  circumstances  which 
gave  rise  to  this  rescript  of  Hadrian  are,  however, 
involved  and  difficult,  though  of  the  genuineness  of 
the  rescript  itself  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt. 
The  following  seem  to  be  the  facts.  Both  in  Greece 
and  Asia  the  protection  given  to  the  Christians  by 
Trajan  against  anonymous  accusations  had  not  proved 
sufficient.  Informers  and  false  witnesses  abounded, 
and  introduced  by  their  methods  a  reign  of  terror. 
'  Delation ' — the  word  is  difficult  to  translate  into  the 
language  of  more  favoured  times,  though  probably 
there  is  a  perfect  equivalent  in  the  Eussian  tongue — 
was  one  of  the  curses  of  the  Empire,  a  recognized 
system  even  under  the  most  blameless  emperors.  To 
turn  informer  was  to  enter  a  regular  and  lucrative 
profession.  The  legal  fee  for  a  successful  delation  was 
one-fourth  of  the  estate  of  the  condemned  man.  "  In 
no  other  way  could  a  man  so  easily  make  himself  a 
millionaire." l  The  Christians  had  no  friends,  and  for 
some  time  the  delatores,  or  false  witnesses,  reaped  a 

But  he  was  also  proconsul  of  Africa  between  177-179,  and  may  have 
been  later.  The  first  date  fits  in  better  than  one  under  Marcus 
Aurelius,  unless  we  extend  his  consulship  in  Africa  until  the  reign 
of  Commodus,  for  which  there  seems  no  certain  evidence.  Other 
lenient  judges  of  whom  Tert.  ib.  tells  us  were,  however,  African,  and 
probably  belong  to  the  time  of  Commodus — Julius  Asper,  Cincius 
Severus  of  Thrysdus,  and  Vespronius  Candidus.  See  infra  p.  223. 
1  Tac.  Ann.  iv  20.  Dill.  RSNA  35-6,  who  gives  illustrations. 


216       PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EABLY  CHURCH 

golden  reward.  Thus  far,  as  Hadrian's  rescript 
shows,  we  are  on  certain  ground.  We  may  surmise 
that  the  existence  of  this  reign  of  terror  was  brought 
to  the  notice  of  Hadrian  by  the  Christians  themselves. 
On  the  occasion  of  the  emperor's  second  visit  to  his 
favourite  Athens,  in  the  winter  of  128-9,  a  certain 
Christian,  Quadratus  by  name — Eusebius  states  that 
he  was  also  assisted  by  a  converted  philosopher 
called  Marcianus  Aristides l — made  some  effort  to 
appeal  to  him,  and  published  the  earliest  Christian 
Apology  of  which  we  have  record.  According  to  a 
late  and  more  than  doubtful  story,  Hadrian  had  been 
willing  to  welcome  Christ  among  his  gods,  and  had 
ordered  the  building  of  temples  that  should  be  free 
from  images,  and  so  adapted  for  the  new  religion. 
We  are  told  that  he  was  only  dissuaded  by  the  report 
'  that  all  would  become  Christians  if  this  were  done, 
and  the  temples  would  be  deserted.' 2  Hadrian  was 
known  to  be  '  an  eager  explorer  into  all  curiosities/ 3 
who  had  sought  initiation  into  the  deepest  mysteries 
of  the  heathen  world.4  His  insatiable  curiosity — 
'garrulous  chattering/  Julian  called  it — had  an  endless 
variety  of  moods,  and  at  different  times  came  under 

1  On  this  difficult  question  see  Appendix  G-. 

2  See  Lampridius  Vita  Alex.  Sev.  43.    But  Lampridius  wrote  two 
centuries  later.    The  temples,  as  Casaubon  suggested,  were  much  more 
likely  empty  because  intended  by  Hadrian  to  be  dedicated  to  himself. 

3  Tert.  Apol.  5,  omnium  curiositatum  explorator.    Cf.  Gibbon  i  75 ; 
Merivale  RE  viii  232,  234 ;  Renan  EG  2-5,  37.    But  the  severest 
portrait  of  Hadrian  is  that  given  by  the  Emperor  Julian  the  Apostate 
in  his  Caesares.    But  of  Hadrian's  practical  genius  there  can  be 
no  doubt. 

4  Sae  plate  in  Duruy  EE  v  101. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  217 

the  influence  of  diverse  creeds.  But  in  one  thing  he 
was  changeless — his  sarcastic  scepticism  whether  any 
creed  was  either  genuine  or  worth  belief.  '  In  Egypt,' 
he  sneered — 

'  the  Christians  and  the  worshippers  of  Serapis  are  the  same ;  those 
devoted  to  Serapis  call  themselves  bishops  of  Christ.  Rulers  of 
synagogues,  Samaritans,  Christian  presbyters  are  all  astrologers, 
soothsayers,  quacks ;  Christians,  Jews,  and  Gentiles  all  alike  worship 
money.' l 

In  approaching  such  a  cynic,  Quadratus  and  his 
fellow-Christians  would  not  be  without  hopes  of  suc- 
cess when  they  asked  that  the  crime  of  Christianity 
should  be  brought  under  the  regular  law. 

The  efforts  of  Quadratus  were  of  no  avail,  A 
rescript  from  Hadrian  to  Minicius  (Minucius)  Fun- 
danus,  the  proconsul  of  Asia,  gives  the  decision  of  the 
emperor.  This  important  document  ran  as  follows  : — 

'I    have    received    the    letter  sent  me    by    your  distinguished 
predecessor,  Serenus 2  Granianus,  and  am  unwilling  to  pass  over  his 

1  Hadrian's    letter    to    Servianus,  preserved    by  Vopiscus  Vita 
Saturnini  8.     Vopiscus  states  that  he  obtained  it  from  Phlegon,  a 
freedman  of  Antinous.     There  are,  however,  grave  doubts  as  to  its 
genuineness.    Its  classification  of  Christians  as  the  '  third  race '  (supra 
p.  190)  is  suspicious,  though  not  conclusive  (Harnack  EG  i  348  n.). 
Mommsen  PRE  ii  227  n.  condemns  it  as  a  forgery.     See  also  Renan 
EC  188  n.    We  may  own  that  it  is  quite  in  harmony  with  the 
portrait  of  Hadrian,  and  as  such  is  accepted  by  Duruy  HR  v  94. 

2  A  primitive  error  ("perhaps  Justin's)  for  Silvanus  (Lightf.  Jgn. 
i  479),  his  name  being  Licinius  Silvanus  Granianus  (see  Waddington 
Pastes  Asiat.  (1872)  i  197  if.  who  dates  123-4).     This  rescript  must 
have  been  originally  written  in  Latin,  in  which  language  it  was 
copied  by  Justin  I  Apol  68  (see  ed.  Otto  i  190),  though  unfortunately 
in  all  existing  MSS.  of  Justin  we  find  substituted  the  faulty  Greek 
translation  of  Eusebius  HE  iv  9     The  original  Latin  possibly  exists, 


218        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

report  without  reply,  lest  innocent  persons  be  subjected  to  attack, 
and  opportunity  given  to  false  accusers  to  despise  them.  If,  there- 
fore, it  is  manifest  that  the  people  of  your  province  are  wishful  to 
support  their  complaints  against  the  Christians  by  presenting  formal 
charges  against  them  on  some  point  before  your  judgement-seat,  I  do 
not  forbid  them  this  course,  though  I  will  not  allow  them  to  resort  to 
mere  appeals  and  outcries.  The  fairer  course,  if  any  one  wishes 
to  bring  an  indictment,  is,  that  you  give'  a  formal  hearing.  If, 
therefore,  any  one  brings  an  indictment,  and  proves  that  the  said 
Christians  are  committing  any  violation  of  the  law,  you  are  to 
punish  them  in  proportion  to  their  offences.  But  you  must  also 
take  special  care,  if  any  one  knowingly  brings  false  charges  against 
any  man,  that  he  be  punished  more  severely  because  of  this  crime.' 

The  meaning  of  the  rescript  is  plain.  To  be  a 
Christian  was  still  in  itself  a  crime,  though  the  ques- 
tion of  what  constituted  a  Christian  seems  to  have 
been  left  somewhat  vague — no  longer  necessarily  the 
name  itself.  The  magistrate  should  see  to  it  that  he 
is  not  governed  by  the  mob.  The  cry,  '  Christians  to 
the  lions/  must  not  take  the  place  of  a  judicial 
investigation,  and  thereby  cause  the  punishment  of 
innocent  men.  The  prosecutor,  or  delator,  who  failed 
to  make  good  his  case  must  be  punished  for  false 
witness1 — a  gain  this  of  considerable  value.  Yet 

however,  in  Rufinus'  translation  of  Eusebius.  See  Harnack  CAL  i 
256  n.  The  Rescript  is  undoubtedly  genuine ;  Lightf.  Ign.  i  477-80 ; 
Ramsay  CUE  320-1 ;  Renan  I! Ant.  32  n. ;  so  Harnack  TU  xiii  (4). 
It  is  mentioned  by  Melito  in  his  Apology  (Euseb.  HE  iv  26).  Possibly 
the  Christians  obtained  a  copy  of  the  rescript  by  purchase.  (See 
infra  p.  285  n.  1.)  The  arguments  of  Aube'  PE  272  against  the 
genuineness  are  not  of  much  worth. 

1  We  have  an  irregular  illustration  of  this  in  the  case  of  Apollonius, 
a  Christian  senator  of  Rome,  beheaded  in  the  reign  of  Commodus 
before  185  (when  Perennis  his  judge  fell,  Harnack  CAL  i  317 ;  Gibbon 
i  88),  probably  a  few  years  earlier  (infra  p.  228  n.).  The  prefect 
Perennis  ordered  the  legs  of  the  informer  to  be  broken,  though 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  219 

Hadrian,  in  spite  of  his  liberalism,  not  to  say  license 
of  thought — "  half  sceptic,  half  devotee,  a  scoffer  and 
a  mystic  by  turns," 1  whose  only  settled  conviction 
was  probably  the  conviction  that  nothing  can  be 
settled — was  driven  into  the  formal  allowance  of  the 
existing  laws  against  Christianity.  The  lot  of  the 
Christians  was  still,  as  in  the  past,  one  of  great 
uncertainty,  at  the  best  an  unauthorized  toleration 
liable  at  any  moment,  under  the  pressure  of  popular 
feeling,  to  give  place  to  violent  persecution.  Though 
the  records  of  but  few  cases  of  martyrdom  under 
Hadrian  have  been  preserved,2  nevertheless  the 
Christian  writers  of  that  time,  as  we  see  from  the 
Shepherd  of  Hermas,  were  ever  haunted  by  the  dread 
spectre  of  persecution.3 

afterwards  he  put  Apollonius  on  his  trial  before  the  Senate  (Euseb. 
HE  v  21).  The  Acts  of  Apolloniue,  first  published  from  the  Armenian 
by  Conybeare  MEG  35  ff.,  are  of  great  importance.  They  may  be  read 
in  Gebhardt  AMS  44  ff.  or  Klette  TU  xv  (2)  and  have  received  the 
comments  of  Hardy  CEO  200-8.  The  Greek  recension  first  published 
in  Anal.  Holland  xiv  284  ff.  is  inferior  to  the  Armenian. 

1  Lightf.  Ign.  i  456  with  his  excellent  note. 

3  Only  one  martyrdom  is  quite  certain — that  of  pope  Telesphorus. 
See  Irenaeus  Haer.  iii  3  (also  quoted  in  Euseb.  HE  v  6),  who  gives  no 
date.  From  the  Liberian  Catalogue  (Duchesne  LP  i  3)  we  learn  that 
he  died  in  137  (LP  i  129  is  misleading).  For  a  full  examination 
of  the  reputed  martyrs  under  Hadrian  see  Lightf.  Ign.  i  502-6,  Ren  an 
EG  393  n.,  and  on  the  other  side  Allard  I  HP  210-33.  But  after  all 
our  lists  of  the  Christian  martyrs  are  very  incomplete  (supra  p.  37  n.  3), 
and  Couybeare  (MEG  239  ff.)  has  edited  from  the  Armenian  another 
martyrdom,  that  of  Thalelaeus,  which  probably  took  place  at  Aegae 
near  Iskanderun  in  the  reign  of  Hadrian.  For  Pope  Alexander  see 
infra  p.  260  n.  For  Symphorosa  (AM  23)  see  infra  p.  320  n.,  and  in 
defence  Allard  I  HP  270  ff. 

8  The  evidence  of  this  book  must  not  be  lightly  dismissed.    Renan 


220        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EAKLY  CHURCH 

IV 

The  two  great  emperors,  Antoninus  Pius  and 
Marcus  Antoninus  (Aurelius),  must  also  be  numbered 
among  the  persecutors  of  the  Church,  the  former, 
probably,  in  spite  of  his  inclinations.1  Certainly 

EC  303  describes  it  in  somewhat  exaggerated  language  as  "  issuing 
from  a  bath  of  blood."  The  following  passages  may  be  quoted  as 
containing  indications  of  the  persecution  of  the  times,  though  some 
may  be  interpreted  allegorically  or  of  spiritual  struggle:  Vis.  i4,  ii  2, 
3,  iii  1,  2  (quoted  infra  p.  344),  5,  6 ;  Hand,  viii  10 ;  Sim.  viii  3,  6, 
8, 10 ;  ix  21,  26,  28.  The  Shepherd  was  written  during  the  episcopate 
at  Rome  of  Pius,  his  brother  (Muratorian  fragment  in  Duchesne  LP  i 
132  n.  4  or  Westcott  Canon  (ed.  5)  537).  The  date  is  uncertain, 
owing  to  uncertainty  as  to  when  Pius  was  pope.  The  date  in  the 
Liberian  catalogue  from  146-61  (LP  i  4,  cf.  132)  is  too  late,  owing  to 
a  misplacement  of  pope  Anicetus  (LP  i  p.  Ixxi).  The  oldest  list,  that 
of  Julius  Africanus,  dates  from  140-55.  (Harnaek  CAL  i  171.  See 
further  the  discussions  in  Lightf.  Clem,  i  264  ff.,  Harnaek  CAL  i  144  ff., 
257  ff.)  The  Shepherd's  dread  of  persecution — for  it  is  impossible  to 
say  whether  the  work  is  prophecy  or  history — may  thus  be  due  either 
to  the  recent  martyrdom  of  Telesphorus  or  point  to  persecutions,  other- 
wise unknown,  under  Antoninus  Pius.  See  infra  p.  221  n.  2.  Salmon 
(DCB  ii  s.v.  Hermas ;  Introd.  N.T.  570  ff.)  dates  in  the  lifetime  of  Clem. 
Romanus.  Salmon  thus  refers  the  persecution  to  that  of  Domitian. 
See  also  Ramsay  CliE  432  n.,  who  dates  even  earlier.  But  I  cannot 
see  that  Salmon  has  made  out  his  case  for  discrediting  the  Muratorian 
fragment,  and  incline  to  date  publication  as  about  140,  though  the 
book  probably  was  written,  in  part  at  least,  some  years  earlier. 
A  convenient  text  of  the  Shepherd  with  E.  T.  will  be  found  in 
Harmer's  Apostolic  Fathers,  1898. 

1  The  question  of  the  authenticity  of  the  rescript  of  Antoninus 
Pius,  which  practically  conferred  toleration  on  the  Christians,  is 
somewhat  difficult.  The  rescript  itself,  an  answer  to  the  Diet  (rb 
Koiv6v)  of  Asia,  exists  in  three  forms ;  in  Euseb.  HE  iv  13  (where  it  is 
clumsily  assigned  to  Marcus  Aurelius),  Rufinus  HE  iv  13  (merely 
a  free  rendering  of  Eusebius),  and  in  a  fourteenth-century  MS.  of 
Justin  Apol  (see  Op.  Justin,  ed.  Otto  i  144).  Harnaek  TU  xiii 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  221 

under  Antoninus  Pius,  who,  in  his  own  noble  words, 
chose  rather  '  to  save  the  life  of  one  citizen  than  to 
slay  a  thousand  foes,'  persecutions  were  local  out- 
breaks, the  details  of  which  may,  possibly,  never 
have  come  before  the  emperor  until  after  the  issue. 
But  the  martyrdoms  of  Polycarp  and  his  companions 
in  Smyrna,1  the  great  dread  which  we  see  haunting 
the  pages  of  the  Shepherd  of  Hermas,2  the  execution 
in  Borne  by  the  prefect  Lollius  Urbicus  of  Ptolemaeus 
and  Lucius,3  show  that  the  peace  of  the  Church  was 
often  broken,  in  spite  of  the  Apologies  by  which 
Justin,  Quadratus  and  others  sought  to  procure  rest 
for  the  persecuted.  If  the  surmise  of  Harnack  be 
correct,  the  rescript  of  Antoninus  Pius  to  the  Diet 
(Kotvov)  of  Asia  is  itself  a  witness,  not  so  much  to 
toleration — this  is  a  later  Christian  interpolation — as 
to  the  irregular  persecutions  that  ever  and  anon  broke 

(4)  has  examined  these,  and  attempted  to  restore  a  Greek  original 
which  he  regards  as  original,  though,  as  he  owns,  full  of  Christian 
interpolations.  Others,  following  the  lead  of  Dodwell  (infra  App.  F), 
reject ;  see  the  arguments  in  Lightf.  Ign.  i  481-5.  But  whatever  be 
the  original  form  of  this  rescript,  of  actual  persecution  under  Pius 
there  can  be  no  doubt,  though  the  personal  responsibility  of  the 
emperor  probably  was  but  slight.  The  (forged)  rescript  is  variously 
dated  by  Waddington  152,  Mommsen  and  Lightfoot  158.  For  the 
similar  forged  letter  of  Marcus  to  Euxeuianus  see  Lightf.  Ign.  i 
493-501. 

1  For  date  under  Pius  see  infra  p.  306  n. 

2  In  addition  to  Hermas  there  is  the  evidence  of  Minucius  Felix, 
if,  as  Lightf.  and  others  think,  his  Octavius,  instead  of  being  indebted 
to  Tert.  Apol,  is  antecedent,  and  written  about  the  year  1GO  (Lightf. 
Ign.  i  535  if.).    But  the  later  date  (234,  Salmon  DCS  iii  924 ;  between 
240-50,  Harnack  CAL  ii  324-30)  is  more  probable. 

3  See  supra  p.  144;  cf.  Harnack  CAL  i  276.    Add  Publius,  bishop 
of  Athens,  Euseb.  HE  iv  23. 


222        PERSECUTION   IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

out  in  the  cities  of  the  East,  as  well  as  in  Greece 
and  Thrace.  Disorder  of  this  sort  Pius  was  deter- 
mined to  put  down,  as  we  see  from  his  letter  to 
*  the  Larissaeans,  Thessalonians,  Athenians,  and  all 
Greeks.'  l 

The  presence  of  Marcus  Aurelius  among  the  perse- 
cutors of  the  Church  must  ever  prove  a  matter  of 
astonishment  and  regret.  That  the  one  ruler  of  men 
who  at  first  blush  realizes  to  the  full  Plato's  dream 
of  the  philosopher  on  the  throne  should  be  the  hard 
taskmaster  of  the  followers  of  Jesus  is  one  of  the 
ironies  of  history.  No  doubt  part  of  our  surprise 
arises  from  a  false  estimate  of  the  reign  of  Marcus 
Aurelius.  Historians  have  too  often  been  misled  by 
the  panegyrics  of  the  philosophers  who  crowded  his 
court,  and  wrote  the  record  of  his  rule.2  In  some 
respects  his  reign  was  successful.  His  laws  on  behalf 
of  the  slave,  the  child,  and  the  orphan  3  mark  the  rise 
in  the  world  of  a  new  moral  consciousness,  to  which, 
however,  Marcus  Aurelius  was  not  the  first  to  appeal. 
Nevertheless,  as  Schiller  4  has  shown  us,  the  reign  of 
the  great  thinker  was,  on  the  whole,  a  dismal  failure, 
marked  by  incapacity,  and  dogged  by  continual 


eplfciv,  i.e.  '  no  illegal  action  !  '  The  letter  is  quoted  by 
Melito  in  Euseb.  HE  iv  (26)  10.  Perhaps  it  was  due  to  the  out- 
break in  Smyrna  (Polycarp  infra  p.  307)  in  155,  as  Smyrna  was 
undoubtedly  one  of  the  '  Greek  '  cities.  If  not  it  witnesses,  as  also 
the  rescript  to  the  Diet,  to  outbreaks  of  which  we  have  now  no 
knowledge.  By  the  rescript  of  Hadrian  such  outbreaks  were  illegal. 

2  This  applies  especially  to  Gibbon  (e.g.  i  78)  and  Renan  MA. 

3  Renan  MA  23-30. 

*  See  his  Gesch.  der  r8m.  Kaiserzeit  (1883)  i  (2)  653  ff.,  and  cf. 
Mommsen  PEE  i  532  ;  Duruy  HE  v  231. 


THE  GREAT  PEKSEOUTIONS  223 

disaster.  "Marcus,  partly  because  he  was  a  good 
Stoic,  was  a  very  bad  emperor."1  The  puzzle  further 
vanishes  when  we  cease  to  look  at  Marcus  Aurelius 
from  a  Christian  standpoint,  which  he  would  have 
been  the  last  to  understand.  Nevertheless,  the  strange 
vision  of  one  "  the  very  dust  of  whose  thoughts  was 
gold,"  whose  soul  soared  to  heights  of  resignation  to 
the  divine  will  given  to  few  even  among  the  saints  of 
God,  as  the  deliberate  persecutor  of  'the  bond-servants 
of  Jesus  Christ,'  leads  us  to  pause  for  a  moment  that 
we  may  contrast  the  doctrine  of  renunciation  as 
proclaimed  by  the  Christian  and  the  Stoic  emperor. 

The  religion  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  which  may  briefly 
be  described  as  ethical  Calvinism,  is  undoubtedly 
founded,  as  that  of  Epictetus  before  him,  upon 
uncomplaining  submission  to  the  will  of  God  as  the 
law  of  the  whole  universe.  For  him  renunciation 
must  be  complete;  we  must,  as  Epictetus  urged, 
'  desire  nothing  too  much,'  but — and  herein  lies  the 
difference  between  Marcus  Aurelius  and  the  Christian 
— this  renunciation  is  without  germ  of  hope  either 
for  the  individual  or  society.  With  Marcus  Aurelius 
renunciation  is  something  essentially  Eastern  rather 
than  Christian ;  the  sweeping,  as  by  a  wintry  torrent, 
of  this  poor  human  life  into  the  eternal  vortex  of  the 
'  universal  substance  ' ; 2  the  passing  from  a  troubled 
consciousness  into  the  dreamless  life  of  the  God,  or 
'Logos,'  'the  governing  intelligence,'  who  directs 

1  Bigg,  Church's  Task  70. 

3  Med.  vi  1,  vii  9.    A  good  translation  is  that  by  G.  Long,  whose 
historical  notes,  however,  must  be  checked  occasionally. 


224       PEESECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHUKCH 

all.  For  Marcus  Aurelius  immortality  is  meaning- 
less; what  is  the  atom  of  consciousness  amid  the 
endless  flux  of  cyclic  change,  '  that  one  and  all  which 
we  name  Cosmos,'  but  which  is  all  '  little,  changeable, 
perishable,' 1  that  man  should  dream  of  permanence  ? 
For  him  nature  is  absolute,  merciless  as  death,  un- 
alterably fixed  and  ordered.2  Marcus  Aurelius,  just 
because  he  has  no  belief  in  the  existence  of  real  evil 
in  the  best  of  all  predestined  worlds,  has  no  yearning 
for  all  that  to  the  Christian  is  contained  in  the  idea 
of  heaven 8 — that  opportunity  for  completing  the  in- 
complete, for  making  life's  crooked  straight.  The 
last  word  of  renunciation  is  for  the  Stoic  emperor  a 
rayless  negation,  at  the  best  a  great  uncertainty ;  for 
him  life  is  but  a  moment  of  consciousness  that  comes 
to  the  surface  of  the  stream  of  infinite  and  endless 
mutation.4  '  After  fame  is  oblivion  ' ;  after  death,  at 
best,  the  soul  shall  be  received  back  into  '  the  seminal 
principle  of  the  universe ' 5 — 

We  are  such  stuff 

As  dreams  are  made  of,  and  our  little  life 
Is  rounded  by  a  sleep. 

His  is  the  renunciation  both  of  feeling  and  hope, 
necessarily  passing  into  despair  of  the  spiritual 
possibilities  of  human  nature.  Thus  with  Marcus 
Aurelius  renunciation  becomes  a  hopeless  concentra- 
tion upon  present  duty,  for  whose  sake  all  else  must 

1  Med.  vi  36. 

2  Ib.  iv  27,  vi  1,  ix  28,  xii  5  et  passim. 

9  Cf.  infra  p.  327,  the  sneer  of  Junius  Eusticus  to  Justin. 
«  See  Med.  v  23,  vi  15,  23,  42,  47,  vii  19,  ix  29,  32,  36. 
*  J6.  ii  17,  iv  21. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  225 

be  put  aside.1  It  is  magnificent — in  some  respects 
the  most  magnificent  flight  of  the  unaided  human 
soul.  None  the  less  it  is  not  so  much  renunciation 
as  despair.  But  for  the  Christian  the  hasis  of  renun- 
ciation is  hope,  both  for  himself  and  society.  He 
ever  objectifies,  if  we  may  so  put  it,  the  cause  of  his 
self-discipline.  The  likeness  to  God  is  the  incentive 
to  his  purification ;  a  the  city  of  God  descending  from 
heaven  like  a  bride  is  the  vision  that  nerves  him 
for  every  form  of  self-sacrifice.  But  this  city  of  God, 
or  realized  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  that  organized  ideal 
in  which  lay  the  strongest  appeal  of  the  new  religion, 
by  its  very  nature  utterly  subversive  of  the  established 
order  as  it  then  existed,  had  little  meaning  for  the 
absoluteness  of  Stoic  individualism. 

The  student  who  remembers  these  things  will 
understand  the  antipathy  of  Marcus  Aurelius  to 
Christianity.  The  heroism  of  the  Christian  martyr, 
with  his  delusion  of  a  golden  hereafter,  seemed  to 
him,  as  to  Epictetus  his  master,  based  on  folly, 
and  an  illustration  merely  of  '  Galilean  obstinacy.'  8 
He  is  probably  contrasting  it  with  the  true  courage 
which  men  display  when,  in  accordance  with  '  stoic 
teaching/  they  anticipate  Nature  and  seek  death  by 
their  own  suicide.  The  dread  of  another  world  in  all 
its  forms  he  classed  with  '  superstition.'  For  those 
who  yielded  to  this  delusion,  whether  in  its  nobler 

*  Med,  vi  2,  22,  x  22. 

•  I  John  iii  3,  Matt,  v  8,  48. 

3  Med.  xi  3,  see  supra  p.  189  n.    Of.  Epictetus  in  Arrian,  Dissert. 
V  7 ;  Aelius  Aristides  Orat.  46.    (Ed.  Dindorf  ii  402.) 


226        PERSECUTION  IN  THE   EARLY  CHURCH 

or  in  its  baser  forms,  he  decreed  banishment  or  the 
loss  of  all  their  rights.1 

Moreover,  Marcus  Aurelius,  for  whom  the  Roman 
tradition  had  become  a  dogma,2  saw  in  the  Christians 
the  great  obstacle  to  the  revival  of  the  national 
religion  in  a  Btoic  and  eclectic  form.  He  found  no  diffi- 
culty in  incorporating  in  his  religion  both  the  popular 
mythology  and  rites  and  the  tenets  of  the  philosopher. 
On  the  commencement  of  his  war  with  the  Marco- 
manni,  his  slaughter  of  victims  was  so  great  that  in 
the  popular  skits  of  the  day  the  white  cattle  lodged  a 
complaint  that  his  final  victory  would  entail  their 
annihilation.8  From  the  Christians  alone  did  he 
meet  with  a  resistance  as  obstinate  as,  in  his  opinion, 
it  was  senseless.  The  philosopher,  whatever  his 
private  opinions,  kept  his  countenance  and  fell  in 
with  the  current  ritual.  Not  so  with  the  untutored 
Galileans. 

But  whatever  the  cause,  the  fact  itself  cannot  be 
gainsaid  that  Christian  blood  flowed  more  freely 
under  Marcus  Aurelius  than  at  any  previous  date, 
with  the  possible  exception  of  Domitian.  Wholesale 
slaughters  in  the  amphitheatre  of  Lyons,  the  martyr- 
dom of  Justin  and  his  companions  at  Rome,  of  the 
seven  men  and  five  women  at  Scili,  of  Namphano  and 
Miggin,  Suname  and  Lucitas — harsh  Punic  names, 

1  Modestiuus  Dig.  xlviii  19,  30,  *  si  quis  aliquid  fecerit,  quo  leves 
hominum  animi  snperstitione  numiuis  terrentur,  in  insulam  relegari 
rescripsit,'  and  Paulus  Sent,  v  21,  2, '  humiliores  oapite,'  i.e.  *  maxima 
qapitis  diminutio/  including  death.  8  Med.  ii  5. 

8  Ammian.  xxv  4, 17 ;  Capitulinus  Marc.  Antoninus  13.  Of.  Renan 
MA  48,  and  Lucian  Alex.  Abon.  31-5,  48. 


THE  GEEAT  PERSECUTIONS  227 

written,  however,  in  the  Lamb's  Book  of  Life—at 
Madaura,  near  Carthage,  are  sufficient  evidence, 
though  but  fragmentary  and  incomplete,  of  the  wide- 
spread persecution  of  the  Christians.1  For  the  details 

1  I  do  not  pretend  to  give  a  complete  list.  Such  is  impossible ; 
see  supra  214  n. 

I.  The  following  martyrdoms  under  Marcus  Aurelius  are  certain  : — 
(a)  Justin  Martyr  and  six  others  from  Asia  Minor.    (For  his  Acts 

see  Otto  Justin  Op.  ii  266  ff.,  or  Gebhardt  AM8  18-21.  Kenan's 
rejection  of  the  Acts  in  EC  492  n.  is  without  reason.  They  are 
undoubtedly  genuine.)  The  martyrdom  is  certain ;  see  Tatian  adv. 
Oraecos  19,  Iren.  Haer.  i  28,  Euseb.  HE  iv  16,  Chron.  p.  170-1  ed. 
Sohoene.  The  date  (determined  by  the  prefecture  of  Rusticus)  is 
between  163-7  (Aubd  8t.  Justin  74,  DCB  iii  564,  Harnack  GAL  \ 
282-7).  The  early  date  under  Pius  (placed  by  Hort  as  early  as  148), 
which  attributed  the  death  to  the  malice  of  the  philosopher  Crescens, 
is  an  error,  due  chiefly  to  Justin's  II  Apol  3  (first  sentence). 

(6)  For  the  persecution  at  Lyons  in  177-8,  see  infra  p.  295  ff. 
The  persecution  at  Vienne  is  more  doubtful  (Neumann  ESK  i  29  n,  6 ; 
Lyons  and  Vienne  were  in  different  provinces),  though  Sanctus  of 
Vienne  was  among  the  martyrs  at  Lyons.  (Euseb.  HE  v  1, 17.  See 
also  Duchesne  FEG  i  39.)  For  symphorian  of  Autun  see  supra 
p,  162. 

(o)  The  deaths  of  Carpus,  Papylus,  and  Agathonike  at  Pergamuin 
should  probably  be  dated  in  this  reign.  See  Neumann  BSK  i  38 
and  Harnack  CAL  i  362.  So  probably  the  martyrdom  of  Oaecilia  at 
Rome.  Her  Acts  are  very  corrupt,  but  seem  to  contain  a  kernel  of 
truth.  See  Allard  I  HP  428  ff. ;  N.  &  B.  ES  ii  329-3;  Lightf.  Ign. 
i  516  ff. 

II.  The    following   persecutions,  though    chronologically  under 
Commodus,  really  belong  to  the  administration  of  Marcus  Aurelius : — 

(i.)  The  Scillitan  martyrs ;  see  infra  pp.  193,  327. 

(ii.)  The  martyrs  of  Madaura  (July-Dec.  180.  See  Neumann 
BSK  i  286).  See  St.  Augustine's  correspondence  with  the  heathen 
grammarian  Maximus  of  Madaura,  who  ridiculed  their  Punic  names 
(Aug.  Spp.  16,  17;  Lightf.  Ign.  i  523). 

(iii.)  The  persecution  under  Arrius  Antoninus  in  Asia  (infra  p. 
832),  dated  by  Waddington  Pastes  Asiat.  i  239-41  as  184-5,  but  in  the 
judgement  of  Lightf.  (Ign.  i  540)  probably  two  or  three  years  earlier. 


228        PERSECUTION  IN   THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

of  these  persecutions,  the  cruelty  with  which  they 
were  executed,  we  must  not  hold  Marcus  Aurelius 
responsible.  He  administered  an  empire  a  dozen 
times  as  large  as  France;  details  were  necessarily 
left  to  local  officers.  But  the  emperor  decided  the 
general  policy;  and  in  this  sense  the  noblest  soul 
of  the  ancient  world  became  a  strenuous  persecutor, 
who  did  not,  it  is  true,  initiate  a  new  antagonism  to 
Christianity  so  much  as  carry  out  more  strictly,  and 
in  a  different  spirit,  the  existing  penal  code.  If  it  be 
said  that  for  an  emperor  there  was  no  choice,  we  may 
reply  that  the  evidence  proves  that  Marcus  Aurelius 
was  not  so  careful  as  Trajan  and  Hadrian  in  insisting 
that  in  all  persecutions  the  magistrate  and  not  the 
mob  should  lead.  Moreover,  there  are  clear  indica- 
tions throughout  his  reign  of  an  active  pursuit  of  the 
Christians  by  the  magistrates,  a  return  to  the  proce- 
dure discouraged  by  Trajan  and  Hadrian.1 

Marcus  Aurelius  was  succeeded  by  the  worthless 
Commodus.  Throughout  his  reign  the  Church  enjoyed 
an  unaccustomed  peace;2  in  part  because  of  the 
influence  of  his  mistress,  Marcia,  who,  if  not  a 

(iv.)  The  case  of  Apollonius ;  see  supra  p.  219  n. 

(v.)  Gams  and  Alexander  at  Eumeneia  in  Phrygia.  Oct.  27th, 
179.  See  Neumann  ESK  i  283  and  Euseb.  HE  v  16. 

III.  The  persecution  in  Byzantium  under  Marcus  Aurelius  (Tert. 
Scap.  3)  is  doubtful ;  see  Lightf.  Ign.  i  52G  n.  For  Felicitas  and  her 
seven  sons  see  infra  p.  320  n. 

1  See  supra  p.  213.  Neumann  RSK  31-2  dates  persecution  from 
what  he  calls  the  second  rescript  of  Marcus  Aureliua  (Modestinus 
Dig.  xlviii  19,  30,  supra  p.  226  n.),  which  he  dates  in  176.  But  see 
Ramsay  ChE  340,  and  even  more  decisively  Hardy  CRG  152-3. 

8  Euseb.  HE  v  21. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  229 

Christian  herself,  had  sympathy  with  the  new 
religion;1  more  perhaps  because  of  an  easy-going 
indifference  to  causes  of  disturbance  which  to  more 
strenuous  rulers  had  seemed  of  the  highest  moment. 
His  whole  sympathies  were  with  Eastern  religions, 
Mithraism  especially,  rather  than  with  old  national 
faiths.  Shortly  after  his  accession  the  policy  of  per- 
secution was  stopped,2  while  many  of  those  condemned 
by  Marcus  to  the  mines  of  Sardinia  were  released, 
including  the  famous,  or  infamous,  pope  Callistus.8 
The  Church  grew  mightily,  and  in  Eome  many  of  the 
upper  classes  and  of  the  court  attached  themselves 
to  the  new  faith  with  their  whole  households.4 


With  the  dawn  of  the  third  century  we  enter  upon 
a  new  era  in  the  history  of  persecution.  Hitherto, 
as  we  have  shown,  the  suppression  of  Christianity, 
though  the  rule  of  the  Empire,  had  been  a  matter  of 
police  regulation,  carried  out  locally  in  a  somewhat 

1  Neumann  BSK  i  85-6  for  her  attitude,  and  Hippolyt.  Phil  ix  12, 
Dio.  Caes.  Ixxii  4.     Marcia  was  practically  inorganatically  married 
(Duruy  HR  vi  25  n.).    Her  influence  began  in  183  and  was  at  its 
height  in  189.    See  Allard  I  HP  454. 

2  Supra  p.  227  n.  1  (II) ;  see  the  full  examination  of  the  martyr' 
doms  in  this  reign  in  Neumann  RSK  i  283-91. 

3  Hippolytus  Philos.  ix  12.     See  supra  p.  119  n.  1. 

4  See  Neumann  BSK  i  83  n.  2,  84  n.  2  for  illustrations,  including 
the  high  chamberlain  Prosenes,  who  died  in  217.    For  the  spread 
of  Chriatianity  at  court  from  Nero  to  Constantino,  see  Harnack  EC 
ii  192-204. 


230        PERSECUTION  IN   THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

fitful  manner,  rather  than  pursued  systematically 
on  definite  instructions  from  headquarters.  The 
rescripts  of  Trajan  and  Hadrian  were  not  directed 
against  Christianity  as  an  organization,  but  dealt 
with  certain  details  of  executive  administration  ex- 
actly in  the  same  way  as  if  the  question  had  been 
one  of  brigandage,  or  illegal  trades  unions.  Of  any 
consciousness  that  Christianity  as  a  Church  was  in 
itself  a  danger  to  the  State,  except  in  the  sense  that 
all  wrong-doers  are  dangerous,  we  see  as  yet  little 
sign  or  proof.  The  existing  hatred  of  the  new  religion 
was  more  a  matter  of  personal  feeling  than  a  question 
of  high  politics,  though  the  outbreak  of  local  persecu- 
tions could  not  fail  to  come  under  the  ken  of  the 
emperors,  and  to  receive  their  sanction  or  regulation. 
But  all  this  was  now  changed.  In  the  early  years 
of  the  third  century  we  see  the  emperors  realizing, 
dimly  and  imperfectly  at  first,  that  the  Church  which 
their  predecessors  had  persecuted  was  no  mere  body 
of  anarchists  to  be  rooted  out  wherever  necessary, 
but  a  rival  organization  of  growing  strength,  whose 
increase  in  numbers  and  unity  of  administration 
made  its  suppression,  if  possible,  or  if  not  its  adoption 
as  a  'tolerated  religion,'  a  political  necessity.  By 
the  middle  of  the  century  this  consciousness  of  a 
great  struggle  and  danger  had  become  so  clear  and 
definite,  that  we  see  organized  efforts  on  the  part  of 
the  more  energetic  rulers  to  crush  out  the  Church  by 
the  use  of  all  the  resources  of  the  State.  The  police 
measures  of  the  Antonines  gave  place  to  a  civil  war 
without  quarter.  But,  unlike  all  other  civil  wars,  only 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  231 

one  side  was  armed.  Strange  to  say,  this  was  the 
side  that  was  ultimately  defeated.  On  the  one  hand 
were  the  immense  resources  of  the  Empire  centralized 
in  one  supreme  will ;  on  the  other  the  passive  re- 
sistance of  enthusiasts  making  these  resources  use- 
less. Nor  were  the  forces  of  paganism  material 
only.  She  called  to  her  aid  a  succession  of  able 
philosophers  and  controversialists,  Celsus,  Porphyry, 
Hierocles,  Theotecnus,1  and  others,  who  sought  in 
various  ways  to  entrench  the  established  religion, 
and  to  destroy  with  their  criticisms  the  claims  of 
the  new  faith.  Paganism  itself  became  more  serious 
and  spiritual  as  she  realized  the  mortal  nature  of  the 
struggle. 

The  student  should  note  the  apparent  unequal- 
ness  of  the  conflict.  To  some  extent  he  may  be 
misled  in  this  matter  by  the  glowing  rhetoric  of  the 
apologists.  If  we  were  to  accept  the  statements  of 
Tertullian  and  other  Fathers,  the  conquest  of  Chris- 
tianity would  not  be  so  marvellous  as  it  must  ever 
seem  to  the  sober  historian ;  for  the  Fathers  write 
as  if  the  famous  sentence  '  Veni,  vidi,  vici '  could  be 
applied  literally  to  the  Church.  They  leave  us  with 
the  impression  that  nothing  could  withstand  the 
onward  sweep  of  the  hosts  of  God,  and  yet,  somehow 
or  other,  Christians  were  almost  powerless  against 
the  persecutor ;  two  positions  one  or  other  of  which 
must  be  incorrect.  Irenaeus  boasts  of  '  many  nations 
among  the  barbarians  who  believe,  having  salvation 
written  on  their  hearts  by  the  Spirit,  without  ink  or 

1  Infra  pp.  277,  280. 


232       PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  OHUROH 

paper.' l  He  is  followed  by  Tertullian.  '  Places  in- 
accessible to  Borne,'  cries  the  orator,  'have  yielded 
to  Christ ' — he  is  speaking  of  the  spread  of  the  gospel 
in  Britain a — and  dwells  on  the  '  remote  peoples,  pro- 
vinces, and  islands  which  we  know  not  nor  can 
enumerate/  which  have  embraced  the  faith.  In 
another  place  he  threatens  the  State  with  the 
dangers  that  arise  from  the  universality  of  the 
Christians — 

*  If  we  wanted  to  play  the  part  of  avowed  enemies,  should  we  be 
lacking  in  numbers  or  resources  ?  Do  the  Parthiaus  themselves,  or 
any  nation,  however  great,  which  is  yet  restricted  to  one  country 
and  dwells  within  its  own  boundaries,  outnumber  one  that  is  spread 
all  over  the  world?  We  are  but  of  yesterday,  yet  we  have  filled 
all  the  places  you  frequent — cities,  villages,  markets,  the  camp 
itself,  town  councils,  the  palace,  the  senate,  the  forum.  All  we  have 
left  you  is  your  temples.  .  .  .  Nearly  all  the  citizens  of  nearly  all 
your  cities  are  Christians.' 3 

Such  passages  could  be  multiplied,  without,  how- 
ever, increasing  their  value  as  evidence.  For  all 
this  was  little  more  than  rhetoric,  the  result  to 
some  extent  of  millenarian  or  parousian  concep- 
tions. It  was  necessary  for  the  Second  Advent 
that  the  gospel  should  first  have  been  preached  in 
every  land.  At  the  close  of  the  first  century  we  find 
Clement  of  Eome  maintaining  that  this  condition 

1  Iren.  Haer.  iii  4,  2.     For  a  collection  of  passages  in  early  writers 
giving  their  estimate  of  the  expansion  of  the  Church,  see  Harnack 
EC  ii  147-71.     As  a  specimen  of  their  general  exaggeration  we 
select  the  following  from  Euseb.  HE  i  13,  1 :  '  Christ  in  His  lifetime 
was  visited  by  myriads  from  remotest  lands,  imploring  aid.' 

2  Adv.  Jud.  7.     See  infra  Appendix  F. 

«  Apol.  37 ;  cf.  ib.  2,  ad  Scap.  2,  5;  adv  Marc,  iii  20. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  283 

had  been  fulfilled  by  St.  Paul  so  far  as  the  Empire 
was  concerned.1  A  few  years  later  Ignatius  talks  of 
'  bishops  settled  in  the  utmost  corners  of  the  earth.' 
By  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  Church  had  persuaded  herself  that  her  warfare 
was  accomplished.  The  Shepherd  of  Hermas  speaks 
'  of  all  the  nations  under  heaven  called  by  the  name 
of  the  Son  of  God,'  2  while  Justin  Martyr  claimed 
that  'there  is  not  a  single  race  of  human  beings, 
barbarians,  Greeks,  or  nomads,  where  prayers  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  the  crucified  are  not  offered  up.' 8 
Hope  was  mistaken  for  accomplished  fact.  Imagi- 
nation, untrammelled  by  statistics,  soared  above  mere 
details.  Such  glorious  optimism  is  characteristic  of 
Christianity.  To  the  Church,  as  to  her  Master,  time 
is  but  an  accident.  She  sees  already  of  the  travail 
of  her  soul,  and  is  satisfied.  The  '  not  yet '  of  the 
cautious  critic  (Heb.  ii  8,  9)  is  more  than  neutralized 
by  the  vision  of  the  triumphant  King. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Christianity  in  the  opening 
years  of  the  second  century  was  still  but  a  feeble 
minority  when  compared  with  the  vast  masses  and 
resources  of  heathenism,  of  less  importance  probably 
than  Judaism.4  The  statement  of  Origen  is  explicit : 
'  Many  people,  not  only  barbarians,  but  even  in  the 

1  Clem.  Rom.  Ep.  5,  'having  taught  righteousness  to  all  the 
world,'  Spain  included.  Cf.  supra  p.  36  n. 

8  Ignatius  Epli.  iii.   Shepherd  Sim.  ix  17.   See  tupra  pp.  23, 219  n.  3. 

»  Dial  c.  Irypli.  117.     Cf.  52  fin.  53,  91,  121,  131. 

4  See  tupra  p.  113.  Pseudo-Clem,  ad  Cor.  ii  claims  the  opposite. 
But  Juetin  I  Apol.  53  shows  that  it  was  long  before  the  Gentile 
Christians  outnumbered  the  Jewish  Christians,  let  alone  the  Jews. 


234        PEE8EOUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

Empire,  have  not  yet  heard  the  word  of  Christ.' 
Elsewhere  he  speaks  of  the  Christians  '  as  at  present 
a  mere  handful  of  people/  in  comparison  with  the 
Empire.1  No  statistics  of  Christianity  are  available; 
for  that  matter,  we  are  ignorant  of  the  population  of 
the  Empire  itself.2  But  the  lines  of  proof  are  sufficient 
to  show  that  only  here  and  there,  in  a  few  great 
towns  such  as  Eome,  Antioch,  and  Alexandria,  in 
still  fewer  country  districts  chiefly  in  Asia  Minor,  was 
Christianity  at  all  strong  numerically  speaking.  In 
most  regions  of  the  Empire  it  was  still  non-existent ; 
while  the  country  side,  even  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Christian  cities,  was  almost  wholly  pagan.3  The 
extension  of  Christianity  in  the  main  coincided  with 
the  extension  throughout  the  world  of  Hellenism ;  its 
lines  of  development  for  the  most  part  were  along  the 
great  trade  routes.  In  many  places  we  find  that  the 
Christians  belong  almost  wholly  to  the  floating  popu- 
lation, commercial  or  otherwise. 

But  though  a  minority,  the  emperors  saw  that  the 
Christians  were  a  dangerous  minority,  daily  growing, 
moreover,  in  numbers  and  power.  Between  the  years 
200  and  250  Christianity  seems  to  have  made  rapid 
advance ;  while  the  increasing  unity  of  its  organiza- 
tion, under  the  pressure  of  Gnostic  heresies,  made 

1  In  Matt.  Com.  39  (ed.  Lommatzsch  iv  269  f.)  Ceh.  viii  69. 

2  See  for  this  question,  and  for  a  further  discussion  of  the  number 
of  Christians,  Appendix  F. 

3  But  Zahn  has  shown  that  the  word  '  pagan '  does  not  mean 
'  villagers,'  but  '  civilians,'  in  opposition  to  the  « milites  Christ!,'  who 
have  taken  the  oath  of  service  to  Christ  (supra  p.  185).    See  Harnack 
EC  ii  22  n.  or  ib.  MC  68  f .    The  sense  of  paganus  =  '  civilian '  is 
found  in  Dig.  xlix  17,  19 ;  Tac.  Hist,  iii  24 ;  Pliny,  Juvenal,  &o. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  235 

it  the  more  dangerous.  The  insight  of  Decius  was 
correct  when  he  declared  that  he  would  rather  see  a 
rival  emperor  in  the  field  than  another  pope  in  Kome.1 
His  outburst  was  due  perhaps  to  his  hearing  that 
Pope  Fabian  had  actually  substituted  for  the  fourteen 
civil  districts  of  Kome  a  division  into  seven  of  his 
own.2  Moreover,  the  Christians  were  exceedingly 
wealthy;  sobriety  and  character  had  produced  their 
usual  results.  The  confiscation  of  their  public  and 
private  property  would  provide  relief  for  the  impend- 
ing bankruptcy  of  the  State.8 

We  do  well  to  note  that  the  conflict  of  the  Church 
and  the  Empire  synchronized  with  a  new  conception 
on  the  part  of  the  Empire  of  its  own  constitution. 
Hitherto  citizenship  had  been  restricted  to  a  few, 
chiefly  Italians,  the  inhabitants  of  certain  special 
colonies,  or  the  successful  legions.  By  an  edict  of 
Caracalla  the  name  and  privileges  of  Eomans  was 
conceded  to  all  the  free  inhabitants  of  the  Empire. 
Thus  a  Catholic  Church  faced  a  world-wide  Empire. 

The  first  emperor  to  realize  the  new  conditions 
and  to  attempt  the  suppression  of  the  Church  was 
the  able  Septimius  Severus.  At  the  outset  of  his 
reign  Severus  had  treated  the  Christians  with  a 
certain  degree  of  leniency ;  *  he  had  received  benefit 

1  Cyprian  Ep.  55,  9.    See  infra  p.  245  n.  2. 

«  LP  i  148. 

3  Schiller  BK  i  (2)  890.  The  wealth  of  many  Christians  is  evident 
from  suoh  works  as  Tertullian's  de  cultu  feminarwn  (of.  ii  13),  as  well 
as  Clement  Alex.  Paed,  e.g.  ii  12. 

*  The  alleged  martyrdom  of  Pope  Victor  (LP  i  137)  in  197  should 
be  rejected  (of.  Hippolytus  Phil,  ix  12). 


236        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

during  a  dangerous  illness  from  a  Christian  slave, 
who  had  anointed  him  with  oil.  He  allowed  Christians 
in  his  court.  The  nurse  as  well  as  the  tutor  of  hie 
son  Caracalla  were  Christians.1  According  to  one 
account,  on  his  entry  into  Eome  after  his  victory  over 
his  rival  Albinus,  Severus  protected  certain  well- 
known  Christians  from  the  anger  of  the  mob.2  But 
in  the  beginning  of  the  year  201,  on  his  journey 
through  Palestine  to  Egypt,  Severus,  alarmed  by  the 
rapid  growth  of  the  new  religion,  and  the  increasing 
menace  of  its  tone,  possibly  resenting  also  certain 
indiscretions  in  the  army,8  found  it  necessary  to  take 
active  measures  against  Christianity.  He  ordered 
that  no  one  should  be  allowed  to  become  a  proselyte 
to  Judaism,  and  applied  the  same  to  the  Church,4  a 
needless  edict  this  last — except  in  so  far  as  it  was 
designed  to  correct  his  previous  toleration — when  we 
remember  that  it  was  still  illegal  to  be  a  Christian  at 
all.5  This  warning  given,  Severus  in  the  following 
year  passed  to  the  severest  measures  of  repression, 
though  his  persecution,  which  lasted  until  the  second 

1  Tert.  Scap.  4 ;  Spartianus  Caracall.  1. 

2  The  Christians  seem  to  have  been  loyal  to  Severus  in  the 
recent  civil  struggles.     Cf.  Tert.  Scap.  2,  'No  one  ever  found  a 
Christian  among  the  follovers  of  Albinus,  Niger,  or  Cassiue.'    (On 
these  usurpers  see  Gibbon,  i  115  f.) 

3  See  supra  p.  183  n.  1 ;  Tert.  de  Cor.  1. 

4  See  the  statement  of  Spartianus  Sept.  Severi  17 ;  Paul.  Sent,  v 
(22)  3,  4.     The  matter  is  critically  discussed  in  Neumann  RSK  i 
157-62.    For  the  date  of  the  persecution  see  Neumann  BSK  i  162  n. ; 
Harnack  GAL  ii  324. 

•  Tert.  Spec,  2  (a  work  written  before  202 ;  Harnack  CAL  ii  267) 
speaks  of  the  «  periculum  vitae '  involved  in  being  a  Christian. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  237 

year  of  Caracalla,  was  chiefly  confined  to  the  East, 
and  to  North  Africa.  According  to  Eusebius,  the 
*  great  theatre  of  God  for  these  heroic  wrestlers  was 
Alexandria/  where,  among  others,  Leonides,  the  father 
of  Origen,  '  obtained  the  crown.' l  The  student  of 
Tertullian,  our  chief  Western  authority  for  the  rela- 
tions of  State  and  Church  under  Septimius  Severus, 
especially  of  the  address  which  at  this  time  (211-2) 
he  presented  to  Scapula,  the  prefect  of  Africa,  will  be 

1  Euseb.  BE  vi  1,  2.  According  to  ib.  '  many  thousands  obtained 
the  crown.'  Cf.  Clem.  Alex.  Strom,  ii  20  'inexhaustible  wells  of 
martyrs,  burnt,  impaled,  beheaded.'  But  these  are  Eastern  exaggera- 
tions. We  know  the  names  of  fifteen  (Neumann  R8K  i  291-3), 
including  Potarniaena  (infra  p.  302).  Probably  in  striking  at  this 
great  catechetical  school  of  the  Church  Severus  had  a  deliberate 
purpose  foreshadowing  the  later  policy  of  Valerian  (infra  p.  254).  By 
driving  Clement,  the  successor  of  Pantaenus,  into  Cappadocia,  the 
school  was  for  the  time  being  broken  up. 

Other  certain  martyrs  are  as  follows :  (1)  Rome;  Natalis  (Natalia 
was  at  one  time  a  bishop  in  a  sect  of  which  Theodotus  the  banker 
was  leader,  and  received  a  salary  of  '150  denarii  a  month  : '  Euseb. 
HE  v  28),  Felicitas  (doubtful ;  see  infra  p.  320  n.  2).  But  the  escape  of 
Zephyrinus  (198-217,  LP  i  139)  shows  that  in  Rome  the  persecution 
was  slight.  (2)  In  Africa.  At  Carthage :  June  27,  203,  Guddene, 
a  Phoenician  girl  (Neumann  RSK  i  177  n.)-  Castus  and  Aemilius 
(Cyprian  de  Lapsis  13 ;  possibly  under  Decius ;  they  recanted,  then 
repented  and  were  burnt).  Jocundus,  Saturninus,  and  two  others 
(infra  p.  323).  Perpetua  and  her  companions  (infra  p.  313  flf.).  Also 
Mavilus  of  Hadrumotum  (Tert.  Scap.  3.  For  date  May  11,  211, 
Neumann  RSK  i  184  n.).  This  last  was  the  overwash  of  the 
Severian  persecution.  Also  Eutilius  (Tert.  de  Fuga  5,  place  and 
date  unknown).  (3)  In  Asia.  Asclepiades,  bishop  of  Antioch 
(?  confessor  only,  about  217.  Euseb.  HEvi  11). 

The  martyrdom  of  Irenaeus  at  Lyons  (202  or  203)  is  very  doubtful 
(Lipsius  in  DCS  iii  256).  It  seems  to  be  an  invention  of  Gregory  of 
Tours  (Olor.  Mart.  50,  in  Migne  PL  Ixxi  752) ;  that  of  Elfan  and 
Medwin  in  Britain  is  pure  legend, 


238        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

at  no  loss  to  discover  the  cause  of  persecution. 
Every  sentence  of  the  Apologist  breathes  defiance,  or 
heaps  contempt  upon  the  customs  of  heathenism. 
Nor  were  the  pagans  backward  in  their  hatred  and 
slander  of  the  Christians.1 

With  the  death  of  Septimius  Severus  at  York 
(Feb.  4,  211)  and  the  succession  of  his  worthless 
sons,  the  Church  for  a  time  enjoyed  comparative  rest.2 
In  part  this  was  due  to  a  succession  of  foreign 
emperors  with  no  hereditary  attachment  to  the 
Koman  national  religion ;  half-mad  Syrian  voluptu- 
aries like  Elagabalus,  who  dreamed  of  a  universal 
religion  to  be  obtained  by  the  fusion  of  all  other 
faiths,  Christianity  included,  into  one  great  system 
in  which  the  sun,  under  the  form  of  a  black  conical 
stone,3  should  be  the  central  object  of  worship.4  In 
the  cousin  and  successor  of  Elagabalus,  another 
Syrian  of  nobler  mould  who  assumed  the  title  of 
Alexander  Severus,  we  see  the  same  syncretism  in  a 
higher  form.  In  his  private  oratory  (lararium)  he 
erected,  so  gossip  ran,  a  statue  of  Jesus,  side  by  side 
with  those  of  Abraham,  Orpheus,  and  Apollonius  of 
Tyana.6  Many  of  high  rank  in  his  court  were  believers. 


1  Supra  p.  159  and  generally  c.  3. 

2  For  an  examination  of  the  alleged  martyrdoms  between  Sept. 
Sev.  and  Maximin  Thrax,  gee  Neumann  BSK  i  301-18.     I  have 
little  doubt  of  some,  e.g.  Alexander  of  Baecanae  in  Etruria  (ib.  i  203). 

*  This  was  called  Al-gebel,  "  the  mountain ; "  hence  Ela-gabalus. 
The  form  Heliogabalus  was  a  mistaken  Greek  rendering. 

*  Lamprid,  Vit.  Heliogab.  co.  1,  2,  3,  5. 

5  Lamprid,  Alex.  Sev.  29,  2.     Apollonius  of  Tyana  was  a  sort 
of  heathen  Christ,  whose  life  (ed,  Kayser,  1844)  was  written  by 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  239 

He  had  ordered,  it  was  said,  the  Golden  Rule  to  be 
written  up  in  his  palace.1  In  a  lawsuit  between  the 
Christians  and  a  company  of  victuallers  for  the 
possession  of  a  piece  of  ground  in  Rome,  Alexander 
awarded  the  site  to  the  Christians.  '  Better,*  he  said, 
'that  the  land  should  be  devoted  to  the  worship  of 
God  in  any  form  than  that  it  should  be  handed  over 
for  the  uses  of  eookshops.' a  When  his  mother,  the 
Empress  Julia  Mamaea,  passed  through  Antioch,  she 
sent  for  Origen : 

*  With  hei  he  staid  some  time,  exhibiting  innumerable  matters 
calculated  to  promote  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  and  to  evince  the 
excellence  of  divine  instruction.  After  this  he  returned  to  his 
accustomed  duties.' s 

But  beneath  this  apparent  calm  there  was  the  grow- 
ing dread  and  hostility  of  paganism.  We  see  this, 
as  Gibbon  has  suggested,  in  those  counsels  of  perse- 
cution which  Dion  Cassius,  who  composed  his  history 
during  this  reign,  has  put  into  the  mouth  of  Maecenas, 
and  which  were  "  most  probably  intended  for  the  use 
of  his  master."  *  We  have  a  further  illustration  in 

Philoetratus  as  a  rival  to  the  Founder  of  Christianity.  Aurelian 
erected  altars  to  him  (Vopiecus  Aurel.  24). 

1  Lamprid.  Vit  Alex.  Severus  51,  7,  8. 

2  Ib.  49,  6.    Possibly  the  site  of  S.  Maria  in  Trastavere  or  S. 
Cecilia ;  Neumann  USE  i  209  n. 

3  Eu*eb.  HE  vi  21.     Orosius  vii  18  calls  her  a  Christian.    But 
his  evidence  is  of   little    value.    Hippolytus   also  seems  to  have 
addressed  a  work  to  her  on  the  resurrection  (ets  Sefi-npfivav  is  the  title 
on  his  famous  chair),  unless  indeed  it  be  to  Julia  Severa,  the  second 
•wife  of  Elagabalus.    See  DOB  iii  100 ;  Neumann  KSK  i  206  n. ; 
Harnack  CAL  ii  216.    (Orosius  is  in  Migne  PL  xxxi.) 

4  Gibbon,  ii  112  n.    See  supra  p.  89  for  the  counsels. 


240        PERSECUTION  IN  THE   EARLY  CHURCH 

the  fact  that  it  was  at  this  time  that  the  lawyers 
codified  the  existing  laws  against  Christianity.1 

With  the  murder  of  Alexander  Severus  and  his 
mother  at  Mainz  persecution  once  more  broke  out.  The 
very  success  of  the  Christians  proved  their  undoing. 
Hitherto  they  had  met  for  worship  in  private  houses, 
or  in  the  cemeteries  of  their  dead;  now  they  were 
permitted  to  purchase  sites,  to  erect  churches.  Their 
bishops  already  possessed  an  influence  by  no  means 
limited  to  their  congregations.  The  upper  clergy, 
therefore,  were  the  first  to  feel  the  hatred  of  Maximin 
the  Thracian,  a  gigantic  barbarian,  ignorant  of  Latin, 
the  first  who  sat  on  the  throne  of  the  Caesars.  Many 
perished  in  the  massacre  of  the  friends  of  Alexander 
with  which  this  tyrant  began  his  short  disastrous 
reign.2  In  Rome  Pope  Pontian  and  Hippolytus  were 
exiled  to  Sardinia.  There  the  pope  was  beaten  to 
death.8  The  short  papacy  of  his  successor  Anteros 
shows  the  bitterness  of  the  persecution.4  His  execution 


1  Lact.  Imtit.  v  11  fin.    The  lead  was  taken  by  Ulpian  (between 
212-7),  but  his  collection  is  lost.    It  should  be  noticed  that  this  work 
formed  part  of  his  De  Officio  Procontulis.    This  is  of  great  import- 
ance, as  showing  that  the  repression  of  Christianity  was  not  so  much 
by  special  law  as  by  executive  act.    See  supra  p.  65. 

2  Euseb.  RE  vi  28. 

8  Sept.  28,  235.  Ducheene  LP  i  4,  and  Introd.  xciv  (LP  i  145  is 
an  error).  Their  bodies  were  brought  back  to  Rome  (see  infra  p.  258) 
by  Pope  Fabian,  and  buried  Aug.  13  (?  236)  in  the  catacombs  of 
Callistus  and  Hippolytus  (LP  i  12  '  depositio  martyrum ')-  The 
identity  of  this  Hippolytus  is  a  difficult  question.  See  Neumann 
BSK  i  257-64,  321-3;  DCS  iii  88 ;  Hurnack  CAL  ii  212-3. 

4  Nov.  21,  235  to  Jan.  3,  236.  But  the  martyrdom  of  Anteros  is 
uncertain.  In  the  Liberian  Cat.  (LP  i  4)  the  opposite  ('  dormit ')  is 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  241 

may  have  been  due  to  the  '  diligence '  with  which 
he  '  collected  from  the  notaries  the  records  of  the 
martyrs.'1  In  Cappadocia  and  Pontus,  where  an 
earthquake  had  irritated  the  people  against  the  Chris- 
tians, the  persecution  was  especially  severe.2  But 
Maximin's  oppression  of  the  Church,  though  wide- 
spread, was  not  so  much  systematic  as  a  part  of  the 
general  horror  of  his  rule.3  Public  opinion,  usually 
cast  against  the  Christians,  in  this  case  refused  to 
side  with  the  tyrant.  Maximin's  purging  his  court 
of  Christians  was  afterwards  copied  by  Decius  and 
Valerian.  There  was,  in  fact,  no  alternative.  The 
position  had  become  such  that  an  emperor  must 
either  drive  out  the  Christians  from  his  palace,  or 
allow  himself  to  be  dominated  by  them. 

Under  the  Emperor  Philip  the  Arabian,  the 
Christians  enjoyed  for  five  brief  years,  not  only  rest, 
but  a  measure  of  protection  and  encouragement.  The 
growth  of  the  Church  in  all  ranks  and  classes  was 
remarkable.4  Everywhere  the  Christians  felt  the 
need  of  larger  buildings  to  replace  the  older  oratories. 
How  great  was  the  peace  of  the  Church 5  we  see  from 

stated.  See  on  the  one  side  Ducheene  LP  i  145  and  xcv,  and  on  the 
other  Neumann  ItSK  i  318-9. 

1  His  collection  is  lost.    His  successor  Fabian  made  an  attempt 
to  complete  his  task  (LP  i  148). 

2  A.D.  235  under  Serenianus.     Cyprian  Ep.  75,  10;    Origen  in 
Matt,  xxiv  9.    To  the  sufferings  of  Ambrosius  and  Protoctetus  of 
Caesarea  (Cap.),  who  were  carried  off  *  to  Germany,'  we  owe  Origen's 
Exhortation  to  Martyrdom. 

8  The  names  and  details  of  martyrs  under  Maximin  Thrax  are 
yery  uncertain  :  see  Neumann  USE  i  318-27. 
4  Laot.  MP  3. 

•  But  in  Alexandria  a  severe  persecution  broke  out  in  the  last 

1 


242        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

the  prevalence  in  later  days  of  the  idea  that  the  head 
of  the  State  had  become  a  convert  to  the  new  faith.1 
Nor  was  the  idea  dispelled  by  the  magnificence  with 
which  Philip  celebrated  on  the  thousandth  anniver- 
sary of  the  foundation  of  Rome  the  secular  games,  the 
great  religious  rites  of  Eome  (April  21,  248).  Per- 
haps the  suspicion  was  due  to  the  fact  that  he  had 
not  visited  with  stern  punishment  the  Christians,  the 
more  rigid  of  whom  would  abstain  from  this  great 
festival  of  national  pride.  But  with  the  fall  of  Philip 
the  Empire  set  itself  resolutely  to  the  task  of  crushing 
out  the  Christians. 

The  movement  for  reform — for  such  it  seemed  to 
the  pagan  party — had  its  centre  in  the  army,  the  one 
branch  of  the  body  politic  least  influenced  by  Chris- 
tianity, where  the  old  manners  and  discipline  still 
retained  to  some  extent  their  power.  Decius,8  an 


months  of  his  reign  (Euseb.  HE  vi  41,  1)  due  to  local  hatreds,  or 
possibly  to  the  pestilence  (Euseb.  HE  vii  11,  24).  The  leader  was 
a  local  poet. 

1  See  Euseb.  HE  vi  34,  Chron.  ii  180,  and  the  fact  that  Origen 
corresponded  with  Philip  and  his  wife  Severa  (Euseb.  HE  vi  36). 
Cf.  also  supra  p.  239  n.  3.    But  no  heathen  writer  mentions  it,  and  the 
secular  games  could   hardly  have  been   performed  by  a  Christian. 
Moreover,  Philip  was  deiied  at  his  death  (Eutrop.  ix  3).    I  reject, 
therefore,  the  idea  of  Allard  II  HP  c.  6,  Aub6  CER  471,  Duchesne, 
and  others,  and,  with  Neumann  RSK  i  246-50,  DCS  iv  355,  believe 
Philip  was  not  a  Christian. 

2  For  our  knowledge  of  the  Deoian  persecution  our  sources  are 
Cyprian's  Letters  (including   those  of  Lucian)  and  his  De  Lapsis ; 
fragments  of  Dionysius  of  Alex,  in  Euseb.  HE  vi  40-2  (these  two 
lived  and  wrote  in  the  persecution) ;  Gregory  of  Nyssa  (f  c.  395), 
Vita  Greg.  Thaumaturgi  (this  last  somewhat  highly  coloured :  in  Migne 
PG  xlri  893  ff.).    Acts  abound.     The  most  trustworthy  ar*  the  Ada 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  243 

able  Pannonian  soldier  whose  virtues  *  ranked  him 
with  the  ancients,' *  conscious  of  the  weakness  of  the 
Empire,  and  its  growing  inability  to  bear  its  burdens, 
attempted  to  restore  strength  by  striking  at  what  he 
considered  a  prime  cause  of  disunion.2  He  deter- 
mined to  enforce  universal  observance  of  the  national 
religion.  This,  with  most  Eomans,  he  deemed  to  be 
catholic  enough  for  all  tastes.3  Thus  he  would  put 
an  end  to  social  and  moral  confusion.  For  this 
purpose  he  allied  himself  with  the  Senate,  the  home 
of  all  heathen  and  conservative  reactions.  To 
strengthen  his  hand  he  revived  in  the  person  of 
Valerian  the  office  of  censor.4  For  outbreaks  of  local 
hatred  he  would  substitute  a  universal  and  organized 
scheme.  With  Goths,  Franks,  and  Persians  threat- 
ening to  inundate  the  Empire,  no  more  inopportune 
time  could  have  been  chosen  for  thus  estranging  an 
influential  and  numerous  section  of  his  people.  But 

Pionii  (infra  p.  297),  Acta  Carpi  et  Papyli  (infra  p.  328),  and  Acta 
Maximi  (Harnack  GAL  ii  469,  supra  196  n.). 

Of  monographs  wo  may  mention  Gregg  DP ;  Benson's  Cyprian ; 
Aube  EE  pp.  1-275;  Gb'rres  in  Jahrb.  Prot.  TJieol  Ixyi  1890, 
244  ff. 

1  Christian  writers  naturally  are  unfair  to  Decius.    Lact.  MP  4 
calls  him  '  execrabile  animal ' ;  Lucian  in  Gyp.  Ep.  22  *  a  great  snake, 
the  pioneer  (metator)  of  Antichrist.'    But  Vopiscus  Aur.  42  '  quorum 
et  vita  et  mors  veteribus  comparanda  est '  is  more  accurate.    Cf.  also 
Gregg  DP  21  n. 

2  Euseb.  EE  vi  39  attributes  the  persecution  to  Deoius'  hatred  of 
Philip.    But  we  must  look  deeper. 

3  See  the  argument  of  the  heathen  Caecilius,  Minuc.  Felix  Oat.  6. 
*  Gregg's  idea  (DP  82-4)  that  the  edict  was  issued  in  the  names 

of  Decius  and  Valerian  should  be  rejected.  The  mistake  originated 
with  LP  i  155.  Cf.  Aub<<  EE  38. 


244        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EABLY  CHURCH 

Decius  was  a  political  idealist  rather  than  a  practical 
statesman. 

Early  in  250  Decius  published  his  edict  against 
Christianity.1  He  commanded  provincial  governors 
and  magistrates,  assisted  where  necessary  by  a  com- 
mission of  notable  citizens,2  to  see  to  it  that  all  men 
sacrificed  to  the  gods  and  to  the  genius  of  the  emperor 
on  a  certain  fixed  day.  Part  of  the  ritual  consisted 
also  in  tasting  the  sacrifices,  as  we  see  from  the  story 
of  the  apostate  bishop  Euctemon.3  Special  attention 
was  to  be  paid  to  the  officers  of  the  Church,  under  the 
belief  'that  if  he  removed  all  the  heads  the  entire 
fabric  would  dissolve.' 4  But  Decius  did  not  contem- 
plate extermination.  At  first  capital  punishment,  ex- 
cept in  the  case  of  bishops,  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
authorized,  though  banishment  and  torture  might  be 
employed  to  break  the  stubborn.  The  emperor  was 
persuaded  that  if  the  magistrates  only  put  sufficient 
pressure  upon  the  Christians,  they  would  abandon 
their  faith.  He  had  grounds  for  this  belief  in  the 
recent  addition  to  the  Church  of  thousands  of  converts 
who  had  rather  changed  their  creeds  than  their 
characters,  self-indulgent,  effeminate  men,  painted 
women,  and  ambitious  clergy,  upon  whose  worldly 

1  The  text  of  the  edict  has  not  been  preserved,  but  its  contents 
can  be  pieced  together.    See  Gregg  DP  68-86.    Its  date  is  fixed  as 
early  in  January,  by  the  execution  of  Pope  Fabian  on  Jan.  20  (infra), 
and  possibly  that  of    Polyeuctes  on  Jan.   10  (Allard  II  HP  532 
quoting  investigations  of  Duchesne). 

2  But  in  Carthage  called  pwilliores, '  petty,'  Cyp.  Ep.  22. 

3  Infra  p.  342.    See  also  p.  341. 

4  See  Ada  Parthenii,  &c.  (infra  p.  246  n.),  in  A.8S  iv  May  301, 
and  of.  infra  p.  270  n.  for  a  nineteenth-century  version  of  the  same  idea. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  245 

lives  the  persecution  seemed  to  some  to  be  a  fitting 
judgement.1  Such  rushed  eagerly  to  the  magistrates 
to  obtain  their  libelli,  or  certificates  of  sacrifice,  and 
when  the  days  of  persecution  were  over  were  as  eager 
to  be  readmitted  to  the  Church. 

There  was  hardly  a  province  of  the  Empire  in 
which  the  violence  of  the  storm  was  not  felt,  and 
which  did  not  obtain  its  bede-roll  of  martyrs.  For 
the  faithful  who  refused  to  sell  their  Lord  were  hunted 
out,  banished,  their  property  confiscated,  they  them- 
selves exposed  to  insults,  outrage,  torture,  death. 
The  confessors,  it  is  true,  were  more  numerous  than 
the  martyrs,  for  the  object  of  Decius  was  by  prison 
and  torture  to  produce  recantation.  A  measure  of 
forbearance  also  was  shown  to  the  humbler  Christians, 
unless  indeed  it  be  that  no  steps  were  taken  by  the 
Church  to  record  their  sufferings.  In  Eome  itself  the 
policy  of  striking  down  the  officials  rather  than  the 
members  was  strictly  carried  out.  On  January  20, 
250,  Pope  Fabian  was  executed,  and  so  severe  was 
the  persecution  that  for  fourteen  months  no  successor 
could  safely  be  appointed.2  But  'the  Church  held 
firmly  to  the  faith,  though  some  fell  through  fear.' 


1  Cyprian  de  Lapsia  5.  For  the  laxity  of  the  Church  see  ib.  o.c.  6 
(mixed  marriages ;  bishops) ;  Ep.  4,  1  (curious  conduct  of  virgins). 
But  the  chief  evidence  is  the  general  apostasy  (inffa  p.  246). 

8  LP  i  148,  Cyp.  Ep.  9.  For  his  tomb  see  N.  and  B.  RS  i  300, 
where  de  Rossi  points  out  that  the  title  'MR'  (martyr)  was  not 
added  at  the  time  of  his  burial,  but  later,  i.e.  when  Ms  successor, 
Cornelius,  was  able  to  authenticate  his  martyrdom.  But  Cornelius 
was  not  appointed  until  March,  251  (Harnack  GAL  i  155-6,  ii  351  n, 
2;  Lightf.  Clem,  i  288;  not  June  as  bCB  i  689). 


246        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

The  proportion  of  brave  women  among  the  confessors, 
of  whom,  alas !  we  know  nothing  but  the  names,1  is 
remarkable.  Two  high-born  Persians,  Abdon  and 
Sennen,2  as  well  as  two  Armenians,  Parthenius  and 
Calocerus,  witness  by  their  deaths  at  Rome  to  the 
spread  of  the  gospel.8  They  were  perhaps  fugitives 
from  persecution  elsewhere,  for,  strange  to  say,  Rome, 
with  its  large  Christian  Church,  seems  to  have  been 
almost  the  safest  place  in  the  Empire,  at  any  rate 
after  the  departure  of  Decius.4  We  see  this  in  the 
arrival  of  no  less  than  sixty-five  confessors  in  one 
ship,  who  were  met  at  the  harbour  by  Numeria  and 
Candida,  two  girls  who  attempted  to  atone  for  their 
weakness  in  the  day  of  trial  by  ministering  to  the 
needy.5 

But  the  severity  of  the  persecution  was  most  ex- 
perienced in  Africa.  In  Carthage  the  more  part  of  the 
Church  apostatized,  '  spurriDg  one  another  on  with 
encouraging  words,  and  in  turn  pledging  each  other 
in  the  cup  of  death.'  Among  the  weaklings  were 
some  of  the  clergy,  who  probably  missed  the  presence 

1  Lucian  in  Cyp.  Ep.  22,  3  for  a  list. 

2  Duchesne  LP  i  11.    Their  Acts  are  worthless.    Date  July  30, 250. 
For  their  tombs  discovered  in  1619  see  DCA  i  8. 

3  The  tombs  of  these  two  Armenians  are  in  Cat.  Callistus  (N. 
and  B.  ES  i  344-5).    Date  probably  May  19,  250.    Their  Acts  (A.SS 
iv  May,  300)  are  very  corrupt,  but  with  historical  kernel  (Aube  EE 
52-61).    See  infra  298  n. 

4  March  or  April,  250.    There  were  troubles  in  Gaul  and  with  the 
Goths  (Aubd  EE  69-70). 

6  Cyp.  Ep.  21.  Numeria's  real  name  seems  to  have  been  Etecusa, 
and  'Numeria'  merely  a  scornful  title  given  her  by  her  brother 
Celerinus  because  she  had  paid  (numeravif)  for  immunity  (DCB  ii 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  247 

and  support  of  their  bishop,  Cyprian.  Certain 
bishops  also  denied  the  faith.  But  many,  among 
them  women  not  a  few,  were  faithful  unto  death. 
We  hear  of  seventeen,  the  comrades  of  a  confessor 
called  Lucian,  who  died  together  in  prison  of  hunger 
and  thirst.1 

In  Egypt  the  persecution  in  Alexandria,  begun 
under  Philip,  was  renewed.  Here  also,  as  at  Carthage, 
there  were  many  backsliders.  '  Others,  however,  were 
firm  and  blessed  pillars  of  the  Lord/  among  them  an 
old  man,  Julian  by  name.  As  his  gout  would  not 
allow  him  to  walk,  he  was  carried  to  the  stake  on  a 
camel,  amid  the  jeers  of  the  mob.  We  read  also  of 
Dioscuros,  a  boy  of  fifteen,  'who  was  neither  per- 
suaded by  words  nor  constrained  by  tortures.'  Five 
Christian  soldiers,  one  of  them  a  veteran,  were  stand- 
ing on  duty  by  the  tribunal.  Noticing  signs  of 
wavering  in  a  prisoner,  they  made  vigorous  signs  to 
him  to  stand  firm.  On  being  observed,  '  they  ran  up 
to  the  tribunal  and  declared  that  they  were  Christians.' 
Dionysius,  the  great  bishop  of  Alexandria,  escaped. 
For  four  days  he  lay  hid  in  his  own  home  while  the 
police  searched  high  and  low.  He  then  decided  on 
flight,  and  was  captured  by  the  soldiers.  But  as  one 
of  his  friends,  a  certain  Timothy,  who  happened  to 
have  escaped,  was  flying  along  in  great  distress,  '  he 
met  a  peasant,  who  asked  the  cause  of  his  haste.  On 

*  For  this  paragraph  see  Oyprian  de  Lap.  7,  8,  9, 13,  24,  25  ;  Epp, 
6,  10,  11,  14,  22,  24,  38,  40,  66.  (Ed.  Hartel.)  The  chronology 
and  order  of  these  letters  and  events  is  dealt  with  in  Harnack  CAL 
ii  339  ff.  For  the  absence  of  Cyprian  see  infra  p.  311. 


248        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHUBOH 

hearing  the  same  the  peasant  went  his  way,  for  he 
was  going  to  a  marriage  feast.'  On  his  arrival  the 
countryman  told  the  story  to  the  others,  some  of 
whom,  apparently,  were  Christians : 

*  These,  forthwith,  with  a  single  impulse  arose  and  came  as  quickly 
as  possible  with  a  rush  and  a  shout  upon  us'— (Dionysius  himself 
tells  the  story) — '  The  soldiers  immediately  took  to  flight,  and  the 
peasants  came  upon  us,  lying  as  we  were  upon  the  bare  bedsteads. 
I  indeed,  God  knows,  thought  at  first  that  they  were  robbers.  Lying 
there  on  my  bed,  naked  save  for  a  linen  cloth,  I  offered  them  the 
rest  of  my  clothes.  But  they  told  me  to  get  up  and  get  away  as 
quickly  as  possible,' 

As  Dionysius  seemed  unwilling  to  flee,  his  friends 
set  him  on  an  unsaddled  ass  and  carried  him  off  to 
the  desert.1 

In  Syria  and  Asia  Minor  the  persecution  raged 
fitfully.  The  great  theologian  Origen,2  who  was  now 
in  his  sixty-eighth  year,  was  racked  to  the  fourth  hole. 
Only  by  the  ingenuity  of  his  judge  was  he  saved  from 
succumbing  to  his  tortures,  from  the  effects  of  which, 
however,  he  died  at  Tyre  in  254.  In  Pontus,  as  in 
Carthage  and  Alexandria,  the  laxity  of  the  authorities 
was  such  that  Gregory  the  Wonder-worker  succeeded 

1  For  this  paragraph  see  Dionysius  in  Euseb.  HE  vi  40-2 ;  also  ib. 
Ep.  ad  Germanum  in  Euseb.  HE  vii  11.  The  flight  of  Dionysius 
seems  to  me  to  have  occurred  in  250  (so  Westcott  DCBi  850),  though 
Harnaok  CAL  ii  58  follows  Euseb.  HE  vii  11  in  dating  under 
Valerian.  If  so,  Euseb.  HE  vi  40  is  out  of  place. 

1  Euseb.  HE  vi  39  (Origen's  letters  describing  this,  to  which 
EusebiuB  refers,  are  unfortunately  lost),  46,  vii  1 ;  Jerome  Ep.  65, 
and  for  his  tomb  at  Tyre  DCB  iv  103.  His  great  work  against 
Celaua,  to  which  we  have  so  often  referred,  was  probably  written 
a  few  years  earlier — between  240-8  (Neumann  RSK  i  265  ft".,  Harnack 
CAL  ii  35  n.). 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  249 

in  escaping.  Decius  was  too  busy  with  his  campaigns 
in  Gaul  and  Pannonia  to  see  that  the  magistrates 
carried  out  his  instructions.  But  here  and  there  the 
prisons  were  filled,  and  the  torturers  busy.  In 
Smyrna  '  the  lusty  athlete '  Pionius  and  his  com- 
panions witnessed  the  good  confession,  in  spite  of  the 
apostasy  of  their  bishop,  Euctemon.  But  Babylas 
of  Antioch  and  Alexander  of  Jerusalem  proved  by 
their  deaths  that  not  all  the  hierarchy  were  cowards.1 
The  persecution  of  Decius,  happily,  was  of  but  brief 
duration.  The  barbarians  providentially  came  to  the 
assistance  of  the  Church,  as  also  in  the  later  crisis 
under  Valerian.  Even  before  the  death  of  Decius 
at  the  hands  of  the  Goths  in  the  marshes  of  the 
Dobrudsha  (August,  251),a  the  pressure  of  his  foes 
had  wrung  from  him  a  measure  of  rest  for  the 
Christians.  We  see  this  in  their  election  in  the 
previous  March  of  Pope  Cornelius.  In  the  following 
year  the  persecution  was  renewed  by  Gallus,  through 
whose  treachery  Decius  had  perished.  The  occasion 
was  found  in  the  terror  inspired  by  a  pestilence  which 
swept  from  end  to  end  of  the  Koman  world.8  Expi- 
atory sacrifices  to  avert  the  anger  of  the  gods  were 
ordered  to  be  offered  throughout  the  Empire.  '  We 
see/  wrote  the  African  bishops,  '  that  a  second  season 
of  attack  is  drawing  near.'4  But  the  treacherous 

1  Euseb.  HE  vi  89 ;  supra  p.  157  n.,  and  infra  p.  329. 
8  Schiller  RK  i  806-7.    Not  Nov.  251,  as  Aubd  EE  276,  Duohesne 
LP  i  xcvi  n.,  &c. 

3  Dion.  Alex,  in  Euaeb.  EE  vii  21 ;  Pontius  Cyp.  Vita  8,  9 ;  Cyp. 
ad  Demetr  5,  7  ;  de  Mortalitate  14. 

4  Cyp.  Epp.  57,  59. 


250        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

Gallus  was  a  foe  far  inferior  to  the  virtuous  Decius ; 
while  the  Church,  purified  by  its  trials  and  repentance, 
was  stronger  than  in  the  former  persecution.  The 
attack  failed,  though  we  know  that  for  a  time  the 
persecution  extended  over  Italy,  Africa,  and  Egypt. 
In  Carthage  the  mob  clamoured  for  Cyprian  to  be 
thrown  to  the  beasts.  In  Rome  Cornelius  was  ban- 
ished to  Civita  Yecchia,  where  shortly  afterwards  he 
died.1  His  successor  Lucius  was  no  sooner  appointed 
than  he  too  was  banished.  But  the  murder  of  Gallus 
by  his  own  troops  put  an  end  to  the  struggle.  Lucius 
was  allowed  to  return  to  Kome,  where  shortly  after- 
wards he  died  in  peace.2  The  secret  of  Rome's 
success  in  the  past  lay  in  her  continuity  of  policy. 
Now  her  growing  weakness  was  shown  by  the  way  in 
which  successive  emperors  cancelled  the  measures 
taken  against  the  Christians  by  their  predecessors. 

1  The  earliest  source  (LP  i  6)  knows  nothing  of  his  martyrdom. 
Probably  the  title,  like  that  of  Lucius,  is  due  to  Cyprian  Ep.  68,  who, 
because  of   their  banishment,  salutes   them  as  martyrs.     Cyprian 
certainly  does  not  make  the  distinction  between  confessor  and  martyr 
that  is  now  common  (see  Gregg  DP  289-97,  and  cf.  Aube'  EE  301  n.),. 
though  possibly  the  title  is  due  to  his  dying  as  the  result  of  his 
banishment.    That  the  tradition  of  his  martyrdom  is  earlier  than  the 
fourth  century  is  seen  from  his  Acts  (on  which  see  Aube'  EE  282  ff.) 
which  are  used  in  LP  i  150  (see  Duohesne's  note  ib.  i  xcvi).    For  his 
tomb,  among  those  of  the  patrician  gens  Cornelia,  and  his  epitaph, 
which  is  in  Latin,  and  not,  as  that  of  other  popes,  in  Greek,  see  N. 
and  B.  E8  i  272,  352-63,  or  Lanciani  PCB  i  215-9,  who,  however, 
wrongly  dates  under  Decius.    Cornelius  died  June,  253  (Harnaok 
GAL  i  155),  and  was  buried  Sept.  14,  253  (LP  i  151).    . 

2  LP  i  6,  153.    See  also  Aub£  EE  295  ff.    Lucius  dates  from 
Juno  25,  253  to  March  5,  254. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  251 


VI 

The  accession  of  the  aged  censor  Valerian l  (Aug. 
253),  a  noble  Eoman  of  rigid  life  and  unswerving 
fidelity  of  duty,  but  of  somewhat  irresolute  character, 
soon  issued  in  the  renewal  of  the  struggle.  The  reign 
of  Valerian — who  at  an  early  date  associated  with 
himself  his  son  Gallienus2 — in  spite  of  the  many 
virtues  of  the  emperor,  was  one  of  the  most  unfor- 
tunate in  the  annals  of  Rome.  On  its  frontiers 
Franks,  Alemanni,  Marcomanni,  and  Goths  in  all 
directions  were  pressing  in  upon  the  dying  Empire. 
For  fifteen  years  a  great  plague  ravaged  its  provinces, 
carrying  off  in  Alexandria  and  other  cities  more  than 
half  the  population.  Seasons  of  scorching  drought 
were  followed  by  terrific  tornadoes.8  A  debased  coin- 
age 4  led  to  financial  disaster.  Famine,  earthquakes, 
and  huge  tidal  waves  completed  the  ruin. 

In  the  early  months  of  his  reign,  though  the  laws 
of  Decius  were  still  in  force,6  the  Christians  were 
not  molested.  Valerian  was  too  busy  attempting  to 

1  For  the  life  of  Valerian,  see  Trebellius  Pollio  Fragmentum  Vitae 
Valeriani  in  the  Historiae  Augustae,  a  noble  picture,  if   accurate 
(Bury  G  i  446).     Healy,  Valerian  Persecution  (a  broad-minded  R.C. 
survey,  though  accepting  much  that  should  in  my  judgement  be 
dismissed  as  fable).    Aube  EE  (the  very  opposite  of  Healy)  and 
Benson  Cyprian  give  good  accounts  of  the  persecution. 

2  Before  Oct.  22,  253  (Gibbon  i  253  n.). 

8  Supra  p.  249  n.  3.    Cyprian  ad  Demet.  7. 

4  Schiller  BK  i  (2)  p.  843  for  details. 

6  The  martyrdoms  of  Hippolytus,  Hadrias,  &c.,  accepted  as  taking 
place  at  this  time  by  Healy  (FP  126-9),  seem  to  me  romance.  See 
also  Aube  EE  332. 


252       PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

reduce  the  chaos  in  the  State  to  order,  and  in  pro- 
viding for  the  defence  of  the  frontiers,  to  meddle  with 
the  Church.  There  are  grounds  for  believing  that  at 
first  he  viewed  the  Christians  with  some  favour.  He 
allowed  Pope  Lucius  to  return  from  his  exile.  '  His 
house  was  in  truth  a  congregation  (cfdcXqa-ia)  of  the 
Lord ' ; l  so  numerous  were  the  Christians  in  his 
palace  that  the  '  Caesariani '  are  expressly  singled  out 
for  punishment  in  his  second  edict  of  persecution.2 
But  now  there  came  a  change ;  to  some  extent  due 
to  the  constant  calamities  of  the  Empire  and  the 
superstition  of  the  people,  more,  perhaps,  because  of 
the  growing  influence  upon  Valerian  of  Macrianus, 
one  of  the  chief  members  of  his  court,  the  head  of  the 
magi  of  Egypt.8  Through  this  man's  machinations 
Valerian  began  a  terrible  persecution  of  the  Church. 
In  the  summer  of  257  he  issued  an  edict  specially 
directed  against  the  bishops  and  priests.  These  the 
magistrates  must  seize  and  compel,  under  the  alter- 
native of  banishment,  to  offer  the  outer  signs  of  con- 
formity, as  in  the  persecution  of  Decius.  The  decree 
also  forbade,  under  pain  of  death,  the  assembling 
together  of  the  Christians  for  worship,  or  their 
further  use  of  their  cemeteries*4 

1  See  supra  p.  134. 

3  Infra  p.  254. 

*  Aube*  EE  337-40  doubts  the  character  of  Macrianus  given  by 
Dionysius  (see  supra  p.  134).  Probably  there  is  strong  bias.  But  in 
the  main  the  portrait  seems  correct,  see  Healy  o.c.  109-21. 

4  The  edict   is  lost,  but  can  be  reconstructed  from  the  Acta 
pr  icomularia  of  Cyprian  (infra  p.  313  n.)  and  the  trial  of  Dionysius 
of  Alox.  in  Euseb.  HE  vii  11. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  253 

Few  details  of  the  effect  of  this  rescript  have  come 
down  to  us.  At  Rome,  for  reasons  which  are  now 
lost,  the  Christians  succeeded  to  a  large  extent  in 
evading  it.1  In  Carthage  it  led  to  the  banishment  of 
Cyprian  to  Curubis.  In  some  places  where  the 
Christians  continued  to  hold  their  meetings  they 
were  arrested  in  large  numbers,  and  condemned  to 
death  or  to  the  mines.  Among  these  last  were  nine 
Numidian  bishops,  to  whom.  Cyprian  wrote  a  letter  of 
consolation  from  his  place  of  exile.2  Dionysius  of 
Alexandria  was  deported  to  Kephron,  a  wretched 
village  in  the  desert,  where  the  pagans  attacked  the 
Christian  aliens  with  stones.8  Eecantations  were  few, 
if  any,4  though  in  some  districts  the  edict  was  rigidly 
enforced.  The  worldling  and  coward  had  been  driven 
out  of  the  Church  by  the  fire  and  sword  of  Decius. 

A  year  later  (Aug.  258)  Valerian,  conscious  of  the 
failure  of  his  first  edict,  published  a  second  of 
increased  severity.  This  rescript  was  possibly  the 
result  of  the  reports  he  had  received  from  his  lieu- 
tenants, most  of  whom  had  been  present  at  the 
emperor's  brilliant  levee  at  Byzantium  in  the  summer 
of  258.  Valerian  deemed  that  the  time  was  oppor- 

1  Inference  from  the  freedom  of  Popes  Stephen  (f  Aug.  2,  257, 
shortly  after  the  edict  was  out.  Certainly  not  a  martyr;  see 
Duchesne's  note  in  LP  i  154)  and  hie  successor  Xystus,  who,  though 
elected  on  Aug.  24,  257  (the  date  of  Cyprian's  banishment),  was  not 
troubled  until  the  next  year  (Harnack  CAL  i  155 ;  Lightf.  Cl&m.  i 
290). 

8  Gyp.  Epp.  76-9  deal  with  this  period. 

'  Dionysius  in  Euseb.  HE  vii  11. 

*  Aube"  EE  349  finds  evidence  for  a  few  recantations  in  Coaa- 
modian  Car.  Apol  762-3,  on  which  eee  «&.  517  ff. 


254        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

tune  for  his  reform,  inasmuch  as  he  had  recently 
won  several  successes  on  the  Ehine  and  Danube.  He 
determined  to  strike  at  the  clergy.  Wherever  found, 
of  whatever  grade,  the  penalty  for  the  clergy  was 
death,  without  the  avail  of  recantation.  The  leaders 
among  the  laity,  senators,  and  knights,  were  con- 
demned to  the  same  fate,  but  with  the  option  of 
backsliding.  Noble  ladies  were  sentenced  to  be 
banished.  Members  of  the  court  were  to  be  sent  in 
chains  to  work  as  slaves  on  the  imperial  estates.1 
No  mention  is  made  of  the  treatment  of  humble 
Christians.  Valerian  hoped  that  the  sheep  thus  left 
without  shepherds  would  come  back  to  the  true 
fold  without  being  worried. 

The  first  victim  of  the  rescript  was  Pope  Xystus  II. 
In  spite  of  the  edict,  he  had  assembled  the  faithful  in 
a  little  oratory,  or  schola,  in  the  cemetery  of  Praetex- 
tatus — not  in  the  catacomb  of  Callixtus;  that  was 
too  well  known  to  the  authorities  for  safety.  The 
soldiers  rushed  in,  the  pope  was  hurried  before  the 
judge,  and  of  course  condemned.  He  was  brought 
back  to  the  cemetery  and  put  to  death  as  he  sat  in 
his  episcopal  chair,  together  with  four  of  his  deacons.2 


1  No  longer  extant.    Its  drift  can  be  gathered  from  Gyp.  Ep.  80. 

1  am  not  sure  that  the  idea  of  treason  among  the  Christians, 
regarding  the  barbarians  as  allies,  etc.  (Aube  EE  351-2),  as  a  cause 
of  this  second  edict  can  be  so  lightly  dismissed  as  Healy  VP  165. 
See  supra  p.  153  ff.,  especially  153  n.  3. 

2  Sixtus  II ;  Aug.  6,  258.    See  Duchesne  LP  i  68, 155 ;  Cyprian 
Ep.  80 ;  Prudentius  Peristeph  ii  21  is  untrustworthy.     For  his  tomb, 
and  that  of  his  deacons,  see  N.  and  B.  US  i  132  ff.,  150  ff.,  and  for  this 
tcliola  and  ita  site  Lanciani  PCS  117-8. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  255 

Four  days  later  the  same  fate  overtook  other  deacons 
and  readers,  among  them  the  famous  St.  Lawrence.1 
In  the  provinces  Cyprian  at  Carthage,2  Agapius  and 
Secundinus  at  Cirta,  Bishop  Fructuosus  of  Tarragona,3 
Lucius  and  Montanus,4  Marianus  and  James,5  Leo  of 
Patara,6  and  many  others,  suffered  torture  and  death, 
of  a  few  of  whom  we  know  but  the  names,  of  most 
possess  no  record  at  all.7 

But  the  fall  of  Valerian  was  at  hand.  The  legions, 
enfeebled  by  the  plague,  distracted  by  civil  wars,  were 
powerless  to  hurl  back  the  seething  hordes  that 
pushed  over  the  frontiers.  In  the  West  the  Alemanni 
ravaged  Italy  up  to  the  walls  of  Kavenna  (259), 
while  Dacia  was  torn  from  the  Empire  by  the 
Goths,8  who  thence  pursued  their  ravages  across 
the  Bosphorus  into  Asia.  In  the  East  Valerian, 
in  attempting,  probably,  to  prevent  the  junction  of 
Goths  and  Persians,  was  defeated  by  the  latter  under 

1  Aug.  10.    His  genuine  Acts  were  lost  before  St.  Augustine's 
time  (see  August.  Serin.  302).    The  church  of  S.  Lorenzo  fuori  was 
built  over  his  grave  (Lanciani  FOR  120-2).     Nothing  is  said  in  the 
earliest  sources  (LP  i  68)  as  to  the  manner  of  his  death,  slow  fire 
on  the  gridiron,  &c.     This  legend  may  have  arisen,  aa  Franchi  de 
Cavalieri  suggests,  by  a  mistaken  reading  of  assus  est  for  passua  est 
(LP  i  155 ;  Healy  VP  184).      The  delay  in  his  execution  may  be 
due  to  attempts  to  wring  from  him  as  treasurer  of  the  Church  (the 
function  of  the  deacon)  some  of  its  wealth  (Healy  o.c.  182). 

2  See  infra  pp.  310-3.  3  Infra  p.  325. 

4  Infra  p.  324  n.          5  Infra  p.  322  ff.          a  Supra  p.  162-3. 

7  The  martyrdom  of  the  boy  Cyril  at  Caesarea  (AM  246),  accepted 
by  Healy  (VP  242),  Mason  (Hist.  Martyrs  198),  seems  to  me  to  bear 
on  its  face  proofs  that  it  is  written  for  edification.    If  historical  it 
would  surely  have  been  mentioned  by  Euseb.  HE  vii  12,  which  deals 
with  three  young  men  martyred  at  Caesarea. 

8  255-6.     See  Mommsen  PRE  i  241. 


256        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

Shapur  (Sapor)  and  betrayed  to  the  enemy.1  For 
six  years  the  unfortunate  emperor  was  dragged  about 
at  the  stirrup  of  his  conqueror,  robed  in  purple  but 
weighed  down  with  chains.  When  at  length  death 
came  to  his  release,  his  skin  was  dyed  with  vermilion, 
stuffed  with  straw,  and  hung  up  in  unavenged  derision 
in  a  Persian  temple.2 

Valerian  was  succeeded  by  Gallienus,  a  clever 
man  without  character  or  real  patriotism.  He  took 
no  steps  to  procure  his  father's  release ;  the  revolt 
of  provinces  was  accepted  with  a  smile.  Usurpers 
sprang  up  everywhere ;  the  Thirty  Tyrants 3  reduced 
the  Empire  to  chaos.  For  all  these  things  Gallienus, 
cynic  and  voluptuary,  cared  nothing.  But  whether 
from  indifference,  rare  statesmanship,  the  influence 
of  his  wife  Salonina,4  or  the  philosophical  syncretism 
which  attached  him  to  Plotinus  and  the  Neoplatonists, 
Gallienus  determined  to  put  an  end  to  the  sanguinary 
struggle  between  Christianity  and  the  State.  The 
Empire  was  bleeding  to  death;  one  wound,  at  any 
rate,  might  be  staunched.  So  Gallienus  issued  an 
edict  of  toleration,  restoring  to  the  Church  their 
confiscated  basilicas,  reopening  their  cemeteries,  and 
guaranteeing  freedom  of  worship.5  In  the  East  the 

1  About  260.    See  Bury's  Gibbon  i  App.  17.    Mommsen  PRE  ii 
100. 

2  Lact.  MP  5 ;   Euseb.  Vita  Constant,  i  3,  with  which  cf.  Pollio 
Valer.  4;  Trig.  Tyr.  12,  'senex  apud  Persas  consenuit.' 

3  Really  sixteen  in  all;  see  Bury's  Gibbon  i  App.  18. 

4  That  she  was  a  Christian  seems  to  me  very  doubtful.     See 
Duruy  Hit  vi  387,  Healy  VP  271  n.,  Allard  III  HP  163  ff. 

6  Euseb.  HE  Tii  13.    Text  of  edict  lost.    Date,  autumn,  260. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  257 

social  disorders  led  to  some  delay ;  but  finally,  both 
in  East  and  West,  Christianity  thus  became  definitely 
enrolled  as  a  religio  licita,  and  so  continued  until 
the  persecution  of  Diocletian.  How  strong  was  now 
their  legal  position  is  shown  by  the  incident  of  the 
appeal  of  the  Christians  of  Antioch  against  their 
bishop  Paul  of  Samosata  to  the  Emperor  Aurelian, 
the  issue  of  which  was  the  recognition  by  Aurelian 
of  the  rights  of  the  Eoman  section  in  the  Church  to 
the  buildings.1  The  edict  of  Milan  fifty-three  years 
later  did  little  more  than  restore  the  legislation  of 
Gallienus. 

The  execution  of  Xystus  in  the  catacombs  tempts 
us  to  interrupt  our  story  that  we  may  explain  more 
fully  a  matter  intimately  bound  up  with  the  martyrs 
from  the  days  of  the  Apostles  onward.  We  allude 
to  their  tombs.2  The  reader  familiar  with  the  savage 
fanaticism  which  tossed  the  ashes  of  Hus  into  the 
Khine,  tore  up  Wyclif  from  his  grave  at  Lutterworth 

1  Easeb.  HE  vii  27-30.      I  agree  with    Lindsay  Church   and 
Ministry  332  n.  that  the  question  was  far  more  one  of  Paul  having 
sided  with  Zenobia,  who  held  possession  of  Antioch,  than  of  heresy. 
Aurelian  intended  to  rescind  the  toleration,  but  was  hindered  by  his 
death,  March,  275  (Euseb.  BE  vii  30 ;  Lact.  HP  6).    The  hagiologie* 
are  full  of  legends  of  his  martyrs,  on  which  see  Aube  EE  469-85. 
Some,  however,  may  have  a  basis  of  fact,  but  be  wrongly  dated. 

2  For  the  origin  and  nature  of  the  catacombs,  &c.,  see  Lanciani 
PCR  c.  7,  Northcote  and  Brownlow  R8  i  1-364,  Allard  Les  Catacombs 
(Paris,  1896),  or  the  brief  but  good  DC  A  i  s.v.    The  source  of  all 
these  works  will  be  found  in  the  main  in  the  indefatigable  researches 
of  de  Rossi,  whose  superb  E8  may  be  consulted  with  advantage  even 
by  those  ignorant  of  Italian,  for  the  sake  of  its  plates.    But  for  these 
the  superb  edition  of  Wilpert  Le  Pitture  delle  Catacombe  Eomane 
(two  vols.,  Rome,  1903),  is  even  better. 

8 


258        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

and  cast  the  dust  into  the  Swift J— two  only  out  of 
many  illustrations — may  wonder  that  the  Eoman 
governors  allowed  the  burial  of  the  martyrs  at  all. 
But  in  this  matter  pagan  Kome  must  not  be  com- 
pared with  the  horrible  vindictiveness  of  the  mediaeval 
Inquisition.  To  the  heathen  judge,  unlike  the 
Council  of  Constance  or  Bishop  Fleming  of  Lincoln, 
the  dust  even  of  the  criminal  was  sacred,  and  must 
be  delivered  up  to  the  relatives  or  friends.2  Even 
a  Nero  dare  not  tamper  with  that  right,  and  there 
is  nothing  in  itself  more  probable  than  that  a  Koman 
matron  of  wealth  should  be  allowed  to  claim  and  bury 
the  bodies  of  St.  Paul  and  St.  Peter  in  her  own  free- 
hold. What  was  more,  the  place  of  burial  by  that 
very  fact  became  sacred  (religiosus)  in  the  eyes  of 
the  law,8  a  place  as  inviolable  as  the  holiest  temple. 


1  See  my  Dawn  of  the  Reformation  i  245,  ii  332.    Bernard  Gui, 
the  inquisitor,  between   1308-22  exhumed  and  burnt  67  bodies  of 
heretics.     Lea  Hist.  Inquis.  i  495.     The  contrast  between  pagan 
Rome  and  papal  Rome  is  in  this  matter  not  to  the  credit  of  the 
latter  (cf.  the  Roman  laws  in  Dig.  xi  7). 

2  See  Paulus  and  Ulpian  in  Dig.  xlviii  24,  1  and  3,  '  Corpora 
animadversorum  (those  who  are  punished)  quibuslibet  petentibus  ad 
eepulturam  danda  sunt ' ;  so  also  '  corpora  eorum  qui  exurendi.'     The 
exceptions  were  in  cases  of  majestas  (Ulpian  in  Dig.  xlviii  24,  1, 
where,  however,  the  *  nonnunquam  non  permittitur '  shows  that  even 
this  was  rare)  and  banishment  (Marcian  in  Dig.  xlviii  24,  2 ;  it  must 
not  be  done  '  inconsulto  principe ').    The  two  exceptions  could  both 
hit  the  Christians  hard  if  the  rulers  were  so  inclined  (see  infra  p.  263). 
But  as  a  rule  this  last  exception  was  not  carried  out,  as  we  see  from 
the  case  of  Fabian  and  Hippolytus  (supra  p.  240),  and  as  Marcian 
states  (I.e.  '  multis  peteutibus  hoc  ipsum  indulserunt '). 

3  Dig.  i  8,  6.     '  Religiosum  locum  unusquisque  sua  voluntate 
facit,  durn  mortuum  infert  in  locum  suurn.'    This  applied  also  to 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  259 

Thus  the  tombs  of  the  martyrs,  for  instance  of  St. 
Peter  on  the  Aurelian  Way,  of  St.  Paul  on  the  Ostian, 
whether  above  ground  or  below,  would  be  built  with 
as  much  impunity  as  the  mole  of  Hadrian  or  the 
mausoleum  of  Augustus,  and  with  rights  of  access 
to  the  tombs  fully  secured,  even  in  case  of  the  sale 
of  the  property.1  Thus  the  law  itself,  by  the  safety 
it  insured  for  the  graves  of  the  martyrs,  assisted 
by  the  reverence  of  the  Church  and  the  desire  of 
the  faithful  to  be  buried  side  by  "side  with  the  holy 
dead,  was  the  real  force  that  dug  out  the  catacombs. 
For  the  catacombs  were  not,  as  was  once  supposed, 
disused  quarries  which  trembling  Christians  secretly 
adapted  for  their  own  purposes.  They  were  galleries 
deliberately  constructed  by  several  generations  of 
Christians  at  great  cost  by  sextons  (fossores)  recog- 
nized as  servants  of  the  Church,  and  with  an  evident 
consciousness  of  security  and  right.  In  this,  as 
in  so  much  else,  the  Church  was  but  the  lineal 
descendant  of  Judaism,  whose  catacombs  at  Rome, 
undoubtedly  anterior  to  Christianity,  furnished  to 
some  extent  the  model  of  all  later  developments. 
We  have  an  illustration  of  this  in  the  fact  that  of 
the  fifteen  bishops  of  Eome  who  preceded  Zephyrinus 
all  but  Clement  and  Alexander  were  buried  'hard 
by  the  body  of  St.  Peter.' 2  We  cannot  imagine  that 

slaves,  Dig.  xi  7,  2.  The  origin  lies  in  ancestor  worship.  Of.  XII 
Tables  in  Oic,  de  Leg.  ii  9, '  Deorum  Manium  jura  sancta  sunto.' 

1  Paul.  Sent,  i  21,  7;  Dig.  xlvii  12,  5. 

2  See  the  lists  in  Duchesne  LP  i  118-38,  or  briefly  ib.  i  clvii.    The 
fact  that  the  burial-place  of  Clement  at  a  very  early  date  was  un- 
known (of.  LP  i  123)  led  to  his  identification  with   Clement  of 


260        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

the  imperial  police  were  ignorant  of  this  recognized 
burial-place  of  the  leaders  of  a  sect  officially  classed 
with  cutthroats  and  anarchists.  Nevertheless,  no 
interference  was  attempted.  In  the  third  century 
Zephyrinus  changed  the  tomb  of  the  popes  to  the 
cemetery  which  he  had  provided,1  possibly  because 
the  little  plot  on  the  Vatican  was  full.  But  the 
thirteen  bishops  of  Eome  buried  in  this  new  catacomb 
were  perfectly  safe,  despite  the  persecutions  of 
Decius,  Valerian,  and  Diocletian,  of  which,  in  fact, 
some  had  been  the  victims. 

These  burial-places  were  at  first  known  by  the 
names  of  the  owner  of  the  freehold,2  not  only  for 
legal  reasons,  but  because  the  familiar  galleries  were 
really  developments  that  radiated  out  from  these 
private  sepulchral  areas.  Only  in  later  times,  and 
then  by  no  means  commonly,  were  they  called  from 
some  famous  saint  whose  tomb  they  contained.8 
Furthermore,  in  every  case,  by  Eoman  law,  they 
were  without  the  walls.  No  corpse  save  that  of 
a  vestal  virgin  was  allowed  to  be  buried  within  the 

Cherson  (supra  p.  206  n.).  Alexander's  was  either  unknown,  or  the 
true  site  lost  through  the  false  identification  (as  early  as  the  LP,  see 
ib.  i  127)  of  this  pope  (f  116)  with  a  martyr  Alexander,  who,  with  a 
priest,  Eveutius,  and  a  deacon,  Theodulus,  are  buried  on  the  Via 
Nomentana,  about  seven  miles  out  from  the  city,  and  whose  tomb 
was  discovered  in  1855.  This  identification,  accepted  by  N.  and  B, 
US  i  506-8,  should  be  rejected ;  see  Duchesne's  noto  LP  i  xci. 

1  Infra  p.  261  n.     Called  now  the  catacomb  of  Callistus. 

*  E.g.  the  cemetery  of  Praetextatus  (supra),  a  perfectly  unknown 
Christian  freeholder. 

3  E.g.  the  catacomb  of  Domitilla  (supra  p.  204  n.)  becomes  that 
of  Nereus  and  Achilleus.  So  often.  See  the  list  in  DCA  i  315. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  261 

city  itself.  But  this  very  fact  gave  them  a  certain 
privacy,  which,  added  to  their  inviolability,  enabled 
the  catacombs  to  become  a  safe  meeting-place  for 
worship  in  times  of  persecutions.  The  provision 
of  these  cemeteries  was  left  at  first  to  private 
generosity.  But  early  in  the  third  century  the 
Church  took  advantage  of  the  laws  relating  to 
burial  clubs  to  purchase  cemeteries,  the  freehold 
of  which  was  vested  in  the  bishop  or  other  official.1 

1  Tert.  Apol.  38  pleaded  'that  Christians  should  have  a  place 
among  licensed  societies,'  and  in  ib.  39  mentions  among  the  objects  of 
the  'monthly  collection*  the  'burying  poor  people.'  With  this  cf. 
Aristides  Apol.  15;  Lactant.  Instit.  vi  12.  Burial  clubs  (collegia 
tmuiorurn)  abounded  in  the  second  century,  and  one  of  the  objects  of  all 
sodalities  \vas  to  look  after  burial  (Dill  o.c.  258-61).  For  the  regis- 
tration of  Christians  as  burial  clubs,  the  student  should  consult  further 
Le  Blant  SAM  282,  288;  Ramsay  CBP  i  119,  ii  549-50,  563;  de 
Rossi  RS  i  10  ff.,  ii  82.  The  first  mention  of  the  Church  holding  its 
own  cemetery  seems  to  be  under  Pope  Zephyrinus  (f  218),  who  made 
Callistus  overseer  of  it  (Hippo!  ytus  PTiilos.  ix  12),  and  was  himself 
buried  in  it  (Duchesne  LP  i  139-40). 

As  a  collegium  tenuiorum,  or  burial  club,  Christians  would  acquire 
the  right  to  hold  property,  e^'^'ally  cemeteries.  This  was  formally 
permitted  by  Gallienus  (260)  when  he  restored  the  cemeteries  (Euseb. 
HE  vii  13,  3  ;  Hatch  Organ.  Early  Ch.  152,  n. ;  Duchesne  Z.c.).  The 
question  of  the  relation  of  burial  clubs  to  the  Church  seems  to  me 
rather  a  legal  question  of  property  held  by  a  sodality,  more  or  less 
numerous  in  its  members,  than  one  affecting  the  status  of  the  Church 
as  a  church.  That  is,  I  cannot  think  that  the  theory  of  de  Rossi, 
which  for  some  time  met  with  general  approval  [that  the  decree  of 
Sept.  Severus  extending  to  the  provinces  the  rights  of  burial  thus 
hitherto  restricted  to  Italy  (Dig.  xlvii  22,  1)  enabled  the  Church 
as  such  to  obtain  a  legal  corporate  existence,  and  was  thus  first 
recognized  by  the  State  as  a  monster  burial  club],  is  correct.  In- 
dividual Christians  might  so  band  themselves,  but  that  the  police 
at  Rome  allowed  the  50,000  members  (see  infra  App.  F)  to  form 
a  club  seems  ridiculous,  as  Duchesne  and  other  critics  of  de  Rossi 
have  pointed  out. 


262        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

In  this  very  development  we  mark  one  of  the  notes 
of  Christianity.  Pagan  cemeteries  were  usually 
restricted  to  the  members  of  a  particular  familia, 
but  in  the  brotherhood  of  Christ  they  were  open 
to  the  community  of  the  faithful. 

From  the  earliest  days  of  the  City  jurisdiction  in 
all  matters  of  burial,  including  the  responsibility 
for  guarding  inviolability,  was  left  to  the  pontiffs 
(pontifices).  Every  transference  of  a  body,  even 
simple  repairs  of  the  tomb,  had  first  to  obtain  their 
sanction.1  If  this  was  secured  (and  in  such  matters 
the  pontiffs  were  lenient),  the  transference  of  a 
Christian  from  one  tomb  to  another  became  a  legal 
act,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  Christianity  itself  was 
illegal.  This  will  illustrate  a  most  interesting  event 
which  took  place  towards  the  close  of  the  first  year 
of  persecution  under  Valerian,  and  which  may  well 
have  led  to  the  immediate  issue  of  his  second  rescript. 
On  June  29,  258,  a  few  weeks  before  the  martyrdom 
of  Xystus,  the  bodies  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  were 
transferred  from  the  places  where  hitherto  they  had 
rested  to  another  place  '  in  Catacumbas.' 2  Whether 

1  See  a  certificate  of  transfer  dated  NOT.  3,  A.D.  155,  quoted  in 
Lanciani  o.c.  308. 

2  See  the  record  in  Duchesne  LP  i  11  and  of.  infra  App.  0.    The 
words  are  ambiguous,  but  I  should  reject  Dr.  North  cote's  idea  (RS  i 
369  from  Gregory  the  Great  Ep.  iv  30,  cf.  Lipsius  AAA  177)  that  they 
relate  to  an  attempt  of  the  churches  in  the  East  to  obtain  the  bodies 
ehortly  after  their  deaths   (see  Duchesne's  full  examination  LP  i 
civ-cvii).    The  Apostles  were  not  returned  to  their  original  tombs  for 
some  time  ('  forty  years,'  say  the  Itineraries ;  N.  and  B.  R8  i  265), 
probably  not  until  the  peace  of  Constantino  (D.  LP  i  c  vii),  for  the 
record  under  Pope  Cornelius  (252),  with  its  story  of  Luciua  (LP  i 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  263 

this  was  done  for  the  greater  security  in  time  of 
persecution  of  the  precious  remains,  in  dread  lest  the 
heathen  should  attack  their  well-known  shrines,  or 
from  some  other  cause — for  instance,  the  need  of 
repairing  the  tombs — we  cannot  tell.  If  carried  out 
ostentatiously  with  the  pontiffs'  consent,  it  was  a 
dangerous  step,  as  it  marked  out  the  men  who  took 
part  in  it,  Xystus  included ;  if  done  secretly  at  night, 
it  could  not  fail  to  be  reported  by  the  police,  and 
thus  give  Valerian  reason  for  striking  harder  at  such 
daring  law-breakers. 

We  have  said  the  cemeteries  were  guarded  by 
custom  and  legislation.  But  in  times  of  persecution 
the  mob  occasionally  defied  the  law,  the  more  easily 
as  Christians  condemned  for  '  majestas '  were  really 
outside  its  pale.1  In  the  great  outbreak  at  Lyons 
the  persecutors  cast  the  ashes  of  the  martyrs  into 
the  Ehone — 

'  in  order,  as  they  said,  that  they  may  not  have  hope  in  a  resurrection, 
in  the  strength  of  which  they  despise  dangers  and  go  with  joy  to 
meet  death '  (Euseb.  HE  v  1). 

Outrages  upon  the  tombs  of  the  hated  anarchists 

150;  see  also  tupra  p.  41),  is  evidently  misplaced.  Henceforth 
June  29,  the  date  of  the  « deposition,'  was  held  as  the  Feast  of  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Paul  (infra  App.  C). 

The  place  of  '  deposition  '  was  in  the  cemetery  of  St.  Sebastian 
(Lanciani  PCR  345  ;  N.  and  B.  BS  i  268).  This  district  seems  to  have 
had  the  name  of  "  the  Hollows  "  (KOT&  Kv/j.ftas,  a  word  akin  to  Welsh 
cwm,  English  combe ;  DCAi  295.  Possibly,  however,  the  word  is  a 
hybrid,  Kard  —  cunibo,  coemeterium),  and  so  by  this  pre-eminence  of 
the  '  deposition  *  to  .have  given  the  name  of  *  catacomb '  to  all  the 
Roman  Christian  cemeteries. 

1  See  supra  p.  258  n.  2. 


264        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

might  also  at  times  be  committed  with  impunity  by 
reason  of  the  sympathetic  blindness  of  the  police. 
This  will  account  for  the  frequent  appeals  to  the 
fears  of  the  law-breaker  which  we  find  on  Christian 
graves.  Thus  on  a  tomb  at  Milan  we  read  :  '  May  the 
wrath  of  God  and  of  His  Christ  fall  on  him  who  dares 
to  disturb  the  peace  of  our  sleep.'  But  the  Christian 
did  not  as  a  rule  so  openly  expose  his  faith.  In 
Phrygia,  for  instance,  he  used  a  phrase  that  would 
not  jar  on  pagan  susceptibilities  :  '  the  violator  shall 
account  to  the  God.'1  Underground  vaults  were 
naturally  less  exposed  to  such  lawless  deeds,  and,  so 
far  as  we  know,  until  the  persecutions  of  the  third 
century  the  sanctity  of  the  catacombs  was  scrupu- 
lously respected  by  the  responsible  magistrates. 

De  Eossi  was  of  opinion  that  the  first  attempts 
to  make  the  Catacombs  secret  may  be  dated  as  due 
to  the  persecutions  of  Septimius  Severus.  Tertullian 
speaks  of  the  Christians  as  being  arrested  '  in  their 
secret  gathering-places  ' ;  while  in  Carthage  the  cry 
arose,  *  No  burial-grounds  for  the  Christians.' 2  The 
edict  of  Valerian  and  the  arrest  of  Xystus  II  led  to 
many  devices — irregular  and  circuitous  passages, 
concealed  ways  of  entrance  through  the  sand  quarries 
(arenariae)  which  often  lay  adjacent,  steps  destroyed 
so  that  without  a  ladder  the  intruder  was  help- 
less, and  the  like — for  the  better  guarding  of  their 

1  Lanciani  PCR  318,  Ramsay  GBP  ii  497-9,  Le  Blant  GIG  i 
289-92,  give  a  collection  of  prayers  and  menacea  which  are  by  no 
means,  in  Gaul  or  Phrygia,  confined  to  Christians. 

a  Tert.  ad  Nat.  i  7,  Scap.  3  ('  areae  non  sint '). 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  265 

cemeteries.1  But,  in  spite  of  all  precautions,  the  cata- 
combs were  probably  the  scene  of  many  surprises  and 
not  a  few  tragedies.  On  one  occasion,  if  we  may 
quote  a  doubtful  tale  of  Gregory  of  Tours,  when  the 
Christians  were  seen  to  enter,  the  passage  was  hastily 
walled  up,  so  that  they  were  all  buried  alive.2  What- 
ever be  the  truth  of  Gregory's  tale,  such  a  fate  for 
the  Christians  was  probably  not  unknown. 


VII 

With  the  accession  of  the  great  Emperor  Dio- 
cletian (September  17,  284),  we  enter  upon  the  final 
struggle — the  tenth  wave,  as  Christians  said,  of  the 
great  storm.8  Diocletian's  parents  had  been  slaves 
in  the  household  of  the  Senator  Anulinus;  their 

1  N.  and  B.  ES  i  154-5. 

2  Greg.  Tours  de  Gloria  Martyr um  i  88.    Pope  Damasus,  we  are 
told,  found  their  living  tomb,  and  put  a  window  into  it,  so  that  they 
might  be  seen  undisturbed.    The  doubtful  element  in  the  story,  apart 
from  certain  absurd  details,  absence  of  date,  &c.,  lies  in  the  fact  that 
it  is  really  a  repetition  to  some  extent  of  the  martyrdom  of  Chysanthus 
and  Daria,  whose  tomb  they  were  visiting.     These  two  were  buried 
alive  in  an  arenarium  (sand-quarry)  on  the  Via  Salaria  Xova,  pro- 
bably under  Valerian.     (See  DCB  i  514  ;  Allard  DP  46  n.    Aube'  EE 
494  n.  rejects  as  a  '  roman  d'edification.'    Their  Acts  certainly  are 
such,  but  the  two  themselves  seem  historical.) 

3  Our  chief  authorities  are  Euseb.  HE  and  Lactantiua  MP.   For  the 
questions  connected  with  Lactantius  see  infra  App.  A  II.    Of  modern 
works  Mason  PD  (1876)  is  very  valuable,  though  needing  correction 
here  and  there  in  small    details.      Its    lengthy  polemics    against 
Hunziker,  &c.,  though  perhaps  necessary  when  written,  could  well 
be  curtailed  in  a  future  edition. 


266        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EABLY  CHURCH 

child  refounded  the  Empire  on  a  new  basis,  trans- 
forming the  principate  of  Augustus  into  an  absolute 
monarchy.  Diocletian's  reorganization  of  the  Empire 
was  followed  by  the  concentration  of  the  forces  of 
that  Empire  against  the  Church.  All  was  chang- 
ing; Home  had  become  almost  a  provincial  city, 
forced  to  pay  taxes  like  the  rest  of  the  world, 
of  less  importance  than  Milan  or  Nicomedeia.  The 
old  rule  of  a  solitary  imperator  gave  place  to  the 
tetrarchy  of  two  Augusti  and  two  Caesars;  the  old 
provinces  had  been  regrouped  as  dioceses.1  Nothing 
would  have  been  more  natural  than  that  Diocletian 
should  have  done  what  Constantine  found  it  necessary 
to  do  later — to  consolidate  his  other  changes  by  a 
change  in  the  national  religion.  But  the  time  for 
that  was  not  yet.  In  spite  of  himself,  Diocletian  was 
driven  into  persecution. 

The  conflict  with  the  Church  did  not  break  out 
immediately.  In  his  early  years,  Diocletian  had 
somewhat  favoured  Christianity.  His  wife  Prisca  and 
his  daughter  Valeria  were  catechumens,  though  as 
yet  they  had  made  no  open  confession  of  faith.  So 
also  were  many  of  his  court  officials,  among  them 
the  influential  eunuchs  Dorotheus  and  Gorgonius, 
as  also  Lucian  the  chamberlain.2  As  his  earlier 
acts  prove,  by  temper  Diocletian  was  tolerant,  in- 
clined to  look  on  all  national  religions  as  worthy  of 

1  The  student  who  is  puzzled  as  to  the  different  groupings  of  the 
Empire  by  Diocletian  under  its  Augusti  and  Caesars  should  study 
Bury's  Gibbon  ii  App.  15. 

2  Lact.  MP  10, 15. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  267 

patronage.  Nevertheless,  by  his  adoption  at  his 
accession  of  the  title  of  Jovius,  Diocletian  showed 
his  determination  to  revive  and  uphold  the  religion 
of  the  Empire.  Isolated  persecutions  here  and  there 
in  the  army l  show  the  slumbering  forces  of  hatred ; 
while  Eusebius'  description  of  the  'vast  congrega- 
tions of  men  who  flocked  to  the  religion  of  Christ,' 
and  of  the  '  spacious  churches '  that  were  daily  being 
erected,2  indicate  that  the  death-grip  of  the  two 
rivals  could  not  long  be  averted.  In  Nicomedeia,  the 
capital  of  Diocletian,  the  most  conspicuous  edifice 
in  the  city  was  the  great  Christian  basilica,  which 
towered  up  on  an  eminence  in  full  sight  of  his  palace 
windows.  For  the  Church  in  every  province  the  last 
fifty  years  had  been  years  of  remarkable  growth. 
The  Empire  must  determine  whether  it  should  main- 
tain the  national  religion,  or  allow  it  to  be  displaced 
by  the  new  faith  to  which  the  careless  Gallienus  had 
granted  toleration. 

The  heathen  priests  soon  found  their  opportunity, 
as  in  the  case  of  Valerian,8  in  the  devotion  of  Dio- 
cletian to  the  rites  of  divination.  The  emperor,  who 
was  anxiously  awaiting  at  Antioch  for  news  of  the 
success  of  Galerius  in  his  second  expedition  against 
the  Persians  (297),  consulted  the  omens.  Victim  after 
victim  was  sacrificed,  but  with  no  result.  Then  the 
master  of  the  soothsayers,  who  had  observed  some  of 

1  Maximilian  of  Theveste  (supra  p.  185) ;  Marcellus  of  Tangiers 
(supra  p.  182).  See  also  Euseb.  HE  viii  (4)  2,  Tuv  /cord  rb  a-TparSirfSa 
fi6v(»v  oTroTreipwyueVot/.  The  army  cases  were  perhapg  the  necessary 
outcome  of  military  discipline. 

1  Euseb.  HE  viii  i.  »  Supra  p.  134. 


268        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

the  court  sign  themselves  with  the  cross — the  familiar 
remedy  of  Christian  officials  for  bowing  themselves  in 
the  house  of  Eimmon — informed  Diocletian :  *  There 
are  profane  persons  here  who  obstruct  the  rites.' 
Diocletian,  in  a  rage,  gave  orders  that  all  who  were 
present  should  be  made  to  sacrifice,  and  sent  messages 
that  the  same  test  should  be  applied  to  the  troops. 
But  his  anger  soon  passed  away ;  for  a  time  nothing 
further  was  done.1  With  the  success  of  Galerius, 
Diocletian  celebrated  the  last  triumph  which  ever 
swept  along  the  Sacred  Way.2 

Galerius  Maximian,  in  his  youth  a  Dacian  neat- 
herd, was  the  evil  genius  of  Diocletian.  A  brave  and 
able  soldier,  faithful  and  obedient,  as  cruel  as  he  was 
superstitious,  he  had  grown  up  imbued  with  his 
mother  Komula's  hatred  of  the  Christians,  who  had 
angered  the  old  lady  by  fasting  and  praying  when 
invited  to  join  her  entertainments.3  After  long  but 
secret  conferences,  Diocletian  was  induced  by  Galerius 
and  Hierocles,  the  President  of  Bithynia — this  last 
an  able  controversialist  against  the  Christians — to 
issue  a  decree  on  the  feast  of  Terminalia  (Feb.  23, 
303),  an  appropriate  day  for  the  purpose,  intended 
to  set  a  limit  or  term  to  the  growth  of  the  new 
society.  By  this  rescript  the  edict  of  toleration  of 
Gallienus  was  repealed,  the  statutes  of  Valerian 
re-enacted.  All  churches  were  to  be  demolished ;  all 

1  Lact.  MP.  10. 

«  Date  uncertain,  probably  302,  though  possibly  at  the  time  of 
Diocletian's  Vicennalia  (i.e.  20th  anniversary),  Nov.  20,  303. 
*  Lact.  MP  11. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  269 

sacred  books  to  be  burnt — in  this  last  we  may  surely 
trace  the  counsels  of  Hierocles,  who  is  said  to  have 
known  the  Scriptures  by  heart — all  Christian  officials 
were  to  be  deprived  of  their  civil  rights;  Christians 
who  were  not  officials  must  be  reduced  to  the  rank  of 
slaves.1  Galerius  had  wished  to  condemn  to  the 
flames  all  those  who  declined  to  sacrifice.  Diocletian 
refused  to  allow  the  shedding  of  blood.  He  intended 
to  crush  out  the  Church,  not  rob  his  empire  of 
citizens.  He  desired  a  Test  Act,  not  a  measure  of 
extermination.  But  two  fires  in  the  palace  within  a 
fortnight — the  work  of  the  Christians,  said  the  hea- 
then ;  a  plot  of  the  heathen,  retorted  the  Christians 2 — 
were  skilfully  used  by  Galerius  to  stir  up  Diocletian 
to  still  greater  repression.  '  As  Diocletian  himself 
used  to  say,  "the  best  of  emperors,  no  matter  how 
well  intentioned,  sometimes  errs  !  " ' 8  Persecution, 
once  begun,  could  not  long  proceed  on  methods  of 
rose-water.  Prisca  and  Valeria  were  compelled  to 
sacrifice  ;  the  trusted  officials  Dorotheus,  Gorgonius, 
and  a  page  named  Peter  put  to  death,  the  first  victims 
of  the  accusation  of  incendiarism.  Everywhere  perse- 
cution raged  ;  the  Christians  were  seized,  thrust  into 
prisons,  burnt,  or  drowned.4 

A  few  months  later5  Diocletian  issued  a  second 

1  Euseb.  EE\iii  (2)  4 ;  Lact.  MP  13.  See  Mason  PD  App.  I  for  a 
critical  examination.  The  preamble,  if  it  ever  existed,  is  lost.  Com- 
pare the  edict  of  Valerian  (supra  p.  254),  on  which  to  some  extent  it 
is  based. 

8  Lact.  MP  14;  Euseb.  HE  viii  (6)  6;  Mason  PD  118  n.,  121. 

*  Vopiscus  Aurel  xliii  2.  «  Lact.  MP  15. 

*  From  the  Patsio  Felicit  (see  infra  p.  275  n.)  we  learn  that  the 


270        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

edict.  The  immediate  reason  is  unknown,  but  Dio- 
cletian's severe  treatment  of  a  revolt  at  Antioch, 
if  a  mad  escapade  of  five  hundred  soldiers  engaged  in 
dredging  may  be  so  described,  shows  that  he  was 
nervous  of  disaffection  in  one  of  the  centres  of  the 
new  faith.  In  Melitene,  another  stronghold  of  the 
Church,  there  seems  also  to  have  been  some  attempt 
at  rebellion.1  In  Armenia  Tiridates  (Trdat)  the  king 
was  known  to  be  a  convert  to  Christianity.2  So 
Diocletian  deemed  it  wise  to  take  decided  measures. 
He  put  into  force  the  chapter  in  the  edict  of  Valerian 
hitherto  omitted,  and  ordered  the  imprisonment  of 
all  the  clergy. 

Throughout  the  world  the  passions  of  the  heathen 
were  let  loose  without  restraint.  The  clergy  were 
seized.8  Especial  search  also  was  made  for  the 

edict  arrived  at  Tibjuca,  near  Carthage,  on  June  5,  303.  It  arrived 
at  Cirta  before  May  19  (Geb.  AMS  189). 

1  Euseb.  HE  viii  68 ;  Mason  PD  124-8,  and  supra  p.  187  n. 

2  The  conversion  of  Armenia  Major  through  the  labours  of  Gregory 
the  Illuminator,  and  the  example  of  Trdat  (261-314),  began  in  280. 
Before  290  many  of  the  temples,  including  the  national  shrine  at 
Astisat,  were  destroyed,  though  the  peasants,  especially  the  women, 
clung  as  usual  to  the  old  faith.     (The  chief  authority  is  Gelzer's  Die 
Anfdnge  der  arm.  Kirclie,  1895.    See  also  Bury'g  Gibbon  ii.  App.  18 ; 
Harnack  EC  ii  344-7.) 

3  Canon  Mason,  PD  137-8,  states  that  if  only  Diocletian  had 
known  it,  he  could  have  cut  off  the  life  of  the  Church  for  ever  by 
seizing  all  the  bishops,  "  and  the  Church  would  have  lain  beneath  his 
feet  a  corpse,"  without  "the  means  of  propagating  the  life"  (cf. 
supra  p.  244).    The  conclusion  follows  that  in  Scotland,  Switzerland, 
America,  N.  Germany,  Wales,  Sweden  and  Norway,  and  elsewhere 
the  prevalent   Christianity  is   but  "a  corpse."      It  is   difficult  to 
characterize  aa  it  deserves  such  a  narrow  conception  of  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  and  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.     When  will  theologians 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  271 

Scriptures.  Deacons  and  readers  were  tortured  until 
they  surrendered  their  copies  to  the  flames.  In  Asia 
Minor  a  town  in  which  the  Christians  were  in  a 
majority  was  completely  wiped  out.1  Only  in  Britain 
and  Gaul,  where  Constantius  ruled — Spain  was  in  the 
government  of  the  cruel  Datian,  an  officer  of  Maxi- 
mian — was  there  any  safety  for  the  Christians,  though 
even  that  tolerant  emperor  deemed  it  wiser  to  con- 
form to  the  letters  he  had  received  from  Diocletian 
so  far  as  to  destroy  their  churches.2  In  our  own 
island  the  Christians,  it  must  be  confessed,  were  but 
few  in  numbers,  though  not  without  the  powerful 
support  of  the  Empress  Helena.  To  this  date  we 
must  assign  the  martyrdom  of  a  young  Kornan 
soldier  of  Verulam,  named  Alban,  who  was  executed, 
according  to  the  doubtful  story,  for  harbouring  a 
priest — a  defiance  both  of  the  edict  and  of  the  disci- 
pline of  the  camp.3 

learn  that  a  priori  theories  which  won't  fit  in  with  the  facts  of  experi- 
ence are  scientific  absurdities,  and  degrade  theology  from  being  the 
'  queen  of  the  sciences  '  into  a  laughing-stock  ? 

1  Euseb.  HE  viii  11 ;  Lactant.  Instit.  Div.  v.  11 ;  and  cf.  Ramsay's 
remarks  on  Eumeneia  in  Phrygia,  CBP  ii  505-9. 

2  Lact.  HP  15  as  against  Euseb.  HE  viii  (13)  13,  HP  (13)  10, 11. 
Even  if  Eusebius  be  correct,  one  or  two  martyrdoms  might  occur. 

3  It  is  difficult  to  know  what  to  decide  about  St.  Alban.    That 
Christianity  existed  at  this  date   in  Britain  is  certain.     See  the 
evidence  in  Haverfield  Eng.  Hist.  Rev.  xi.  420 ;  and  especially  note 
that  three  bishops  (London,  York  and  ?  Caerleon,  reading  '  colonia 
Legionenaiuin ')  attended  the  Synod  of  Aries,  Aug.  i  314. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  narrative  in  Bede  HEil  is  full  of  impossi- 
bilities (see  Bede  HE  ed.  Plummer  ii.  17-20).  Haddan  and  Stubbs 
Councils  i  6,  following  Euseb.  HE  viii  13  (13),  deny  that  the  persecu- 
tion of  Diocletian  extended  to  England.  No  doubt  ft  country  without 


272        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

The  effort  of  the  persecutors  to  stamp  out  the 
Scriptures  led  to  some  interesting  incidents.  In 
many  churches  the  precious  manuscripts  were  hur- 
riedly hidden,  so  that  '  when  the  officers  reached  the 
library  the  bookshelves  were  empty.'  At  Cirta,1  in 
consequence,  we  see  *the  magistrates,  with  a  police- 
man called  Ox  (Bos),  going  round  from  house  to 
house,  guided  by  the  bishop's  traitor  secretaries  (May 
19,  303)  :— 

'And  when  they  came  to  the  house  of  Felix  the  tailor,  he 
brought  out  five  books,  and  when  they  came  to  the  house  of  Projectus, 
he  brought  five  big  and  two  little  books.  Victor  the  school  master 
brought  out  two  books,  and  four  books  of  five  volumes  each  (quiniones 
quattuor).  Felix  the  perpetual  flamen  said  to  him,  "Bring  your 
Scriptures  out;  you  have  more."  Victor  the  schoolmaster  said,  "If 
I  had  had  more  I  should  have  brought  them." 2  When  they  came  to 
the  house  of  Eutychius,  who  was  in  the  civil  service  (Caesariemis), 
the  flamen  said,  "Bring  out  your  books,  that  you  may  obey  the 
order."  "I  have  none,"  he  replied.  "  Your  answer,"  said  Felix,  "is 

martyrs  felt  humiliated  and  under  constraint  to  invent  some.  Yet,  on 
the  whole,  I  incline  to  agree  with  Harnaok  EC  ii  410  n.  4  (see  also 
DCB  i  69)  that  there  is  some  foundation  for  the  story,  though  that  of 
Aaron  and  Julius  of  Caerleon  (Bede  I.e.}  seems  to  me  more  doubtful. 
The  earliest  evidence  is  Constantius*  Life  of  Germauus  (Constant. 
Vit.  Germani  i  25  in  Surius  Sanctorum  Historiis  iv),  in  which  we  are 
told  that  Germanus  fifty  years  previously  had  visited  the  relics.  The 
date  of  Alban  was  June  22.  (See  also  my  Letters  of  Hus  249  n.) 
That  Alban  was  a  soldier  is  an  inference  from  Bede's  phrase  '  miles 
ille,'  which,  however,  may  be  merely  figurative  (see  supra  p.  185), 
though  scarcely  likely  of  one  executed  on  the  day  of  his  conversion. 

1  Cirta  is  the  modern  Constantino,  in  Algiers. 

2  Human  nature  is  much  the  same  always.    When  asked  his 
occupation,  Victor  said,  'I  am  a  professor  of  Roman  literature,'  and 
ran  out  a  long  genealogy.    As  becomes  a  grammaticus,  his  answer 
might  serve  as  an  example  of  conditional  sentences  in  a  Latin 
grammar. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  273 

taken  down."  At  the  house  of  Coddeo,  Coddeo'a  wife  brought  out 
six  books.  Felix  said,  "  Look  and  gee  if  you  have  not  some  more." 
The  woman  said,  "  I  have  no  more."  So  Felix  said  to  policeman  Ox, 
"  Go  in  and  see  if  she  has  any  more."  Said  the  policeman,  "  I  have 
looked,  and  found  none." ' 1 

We  hear  of  one  wily  bishop,  Mensurius  of  Car- 
thage, who  removed  all  the  library  of  his  church, 
but  took  care  not  to  leave  the  shelves  bare.  He 
placed  thereon  a  number  of  heretical  works  of  little 
value.  The  pagans  fell  into  the  trap  and  destroyed 
the  poison,  while  the  bishop's  library  escaped,  in 
spite  of  certain  busybodies  who  tried  to  inform  the 
pro-consul  of  the  mistake  his  police  had  made.2 

We  owe  the  record  of  the  doings  at  Cirta  to  a  later 
inquiry,  under  Constantine  the  Great,  into  the  cha- 
racter of  certain  of  the  parties  concerned.  To  the 
same  cause  we  are  indebted  for  another  photograph 
of  the  times,  which  deals  with  the  trial,  in  the  year 
814,  in  the  vicarial  court  of  Carthage,  of  Felix,  bishop 
of  Autumni,8  '  for  giving  his  consent  to  the  surrender 
of  the  Scriptures/  Caecilian,  who  had  been  in  office 


1  Gesta  apud  Zenopltilum  c.  2  in  Geb.  AM8  187-204,  or  CSEL  xxvi 
(1893)  185  ff.  Written  Dec.  320.  In  place  of  the  books  the  officers 
found  at  the  church,  *  thirteen  pairs  of  men's  shoes,  forty-seven  pairs  of 
women's,  sixteen  men's  tunics,  eighty-two  ditto  for  women,  thirty-eight 
women's  head-dresses,'  &o.,  evidently  a  clothing  club  for  the  poor. 
They  found  also  eighteen  smocks,  for  the  use,  I  imagine,  of  the  six 
grave-diggers  who  are  mentioned.  At  the  moment  of  writing  (1906), 
the  history  of  church  inventories  is  repeating  itself  in  France. 

9  See  DOB  i  880,  iv  903.    Mensurius  died  in  311. 

•  This  form  is  more  correct  than  the  usual  Aptungi  (Geb.  AM3 
813);  unidentified,  but  probably  in  Nmnidia,  Tissot  La  Province 
D'Afrique  11  579  discusses  the  matter  fully, 

T 


274        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

in  Autumni  in  303 — the  year  of  the  persecution — is 
put  into  the  witness-box.  He  deposed  as  follows : — 

*I  had  been  with  Saturninus  to  Zama  over  a  question  of 
boundaries.1  When  we  came  back  to  Autumni,  the  Christians  sent 
to  me  to  the  court,  to  ask,  "  Has  the  imperial  decree  reached  you 
yet  ?  "  I  said,  "  No ;  but  I  have  already  seen  copies  of  it,  and  at 
Zama  and  Furni  I  have  seen  churches  destroyed,  aiid  books  burned, 
so  you  may  as  well  be  ready  to  produce  whatever  books  you 
have.  .  .  ."  Shortly  afterwards  I  sent  to  the  house  of  the  accused 
Bishop  Felix.  The  police  brought  back  word  that  he  was  away.  .  .  . 
So  I  wrote  a  letter  to  the  said  Bishop  Felix.' 

The  letter  was  handed  up,  hastily  recognized  by 
Caecilian,  and  then  read  to  the  court.  It  was  as 
follows : — 

*  I  hope  you  are  very  well.  I  enclose  the  signet-ring  which  the 
Christians,  among  them  the  keeper  of  the  courts,  sent  to  me  to  avert 
punishment.  You  remember  you  said,  "  Here  is  the  key.  You  may 
take  away  all  the  books  in  my  stall,  and  all  the  MSS.  on  the  stone 
slab.  But  please  do  not  let  the  police  take  away  my  oil  and  wheat." 
And  I  said  to  you,  "Do  you  not  know  that  every  house  in  which 
Bibles  are  found  must  be  pulled  down?"  You  said  then,  "What 
shall  we  do  ?  "  I  said,  "  Get  one  of  your  people  to  take  the  Bibles 
into  the  yard  that  you  use  for  your  talks,  and  put  them  there,  and 
I  will  come  with  the  police  to  take  them  away." '  * 

On  further  inquiry  it  turned  out  that  the  latter 
part  of  this  letter  was  the  forgery  of  a  man  called 
Ingentius,  one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  court.  But 
the  picture  it  gives  of  the  shifts  in  which  magistrates 
and  Christians  too  often  took  refuge  is  in  the  main 
correct. 

Some  of  the  Christians  were  made  of  sterner  stuff. 

1  '  Propter  lineas  oomparandas.'  Mason  PD  160  (whose  account 
of  this  trial  is  fairly  full)  translates,  'to  get  some  shirts.' 

»  For  this  remarkable  trial  see  Geb.  AMS  205-14  or  CSEL  xxvi. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  275 

Of  such  was  Felix,  bishop  of  Tibjuca,  a  village  near 
Carthage.  The  mayor  of  the  town  (curator)  wrote  to 
him  '  to  surrender  his  Scriptures,  or  some  parch- 
ments of  some  sort,'  for  the  more  merciful  judges 
were  often  willing  to  take  any  '  waste  scraps.'  Felix 
refused.  '  It  is  better,'  he  said,  *  that  I  should  be 
burnt  myself  rather  than  the  Scriptures.'  So  he  was 
hurried  off  to  Carthage.  '  Why  don't  you  surrender 
some  spare  or  useless  books  ? '  asked  the  proconsul 
Anulinus.  But  all  subterfuges  and  hints  were  in 
vain.  So,  after  a  month  of  misery,  Felix,  heavily 
chained,  was  shipped  off  to  Italy  in  the  hold  of 
a  ship  carrying  horses,  and  at  Venusia,  in  Apulia, 
with  "pious  obstinacy,"1  laid  down  his  life  rather 
than  give  up  his  Gospels.2 

Hermes,  a  deacon  of  Heraclea,  in  Thrace,  who 
had  at  one  time  been  its  chief  magistrate,  was  even 
more  daring  in  his  confidence : — 

4  If  we  were  to  surrender  to  you,  torturer  I  all  the  Scriptures,  so 
that  there  should  be  no  trace  left  anywhere  of  this  our  true  tradition, 
then  our  descendants  will  compose  greater  Scriptures,  and  will  teach 
yet  more  earnestly  the  fear  we  have  of  Christ.' * 

'  Where  did  these  come  from  ? '  asked  Calvisianus, 
the  governor  of  Catana,  in  Sicily,  of  a  Christian 
deacon  called  Euplius,  who  was  discovered  with  a 
manuscript  of  the  Gospels ;  '  did  you  bring  them  from 

1  Gibbon  ii  126. 

2  AM  355,  Aug.  30,  303.    The  form  Tibjura  in  Ruinart,  Mnson, 
&o.,  is  a  mistake  for  Tibjuca  or  Tubzuca,  the  modern  Zouitina,  about 
forty  miles  from  Carthage  (Tissot  Prov.  d'Afrique  ii  287-9).     The 
conjecture  Thibaris  (DCS  ii  497  from  Baronius)  is  needless. 

•  Ruiuart  AM  411 ;  see  Harnaok  GAL  ii  478  for  its  authenticity. 


276        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

your  home  ? '  'I  have  no  home,  as  my  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  knows/  replied  Euplius.  'Read  them,'  said 
the  judge.  So  Euplius  opened  the  hooks  and  read : 
*  Blessed  are  they  which  are  persecuted  for  righteous- 
ness' sake,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.'  He 
turned  over  a  few  pages,  and  read  again :  '  Whoso- 
ever will  come  after  Me,  let  him  take  up  his  cross 
and  follow  Me.'  After  many  tortures  Euplius  was 
executed,  repeating  to  the  end,  '  Thanks  he  to  Christ 
my  God.' l 

In  the  autumn  of  304  the  health  of  Diocletian 
failed.  For  forty  years  he  had  home  the  burden  of 
erecting  a  new  empire  out  of  chaos;  now  his  mind 
refused  to  rise  to  higher  themes  than  the  opening 
of  a  new  circus  at  Nicomedeia.3  Galerius  and 
Maximian  could  thus  pursue  with  less  restraint  their 
own  designs.  '  0  Augustus/  shouted  the  mob  to 
Maximian,  on  the  occasion  of  a  rare  visit  to  Eome, 
'  no  Christianity ! '  The  cry  fell  in  with  Maximian's 
wishes.  A  fourth  edict  was  issued  affixing  to 
Christianity  the  penalty  of  death,  while  the  magis- 
trates were  informed  that  the  entire  population  must 
be  tested  by  sacrifices.3  Nobly  did  the  Church 
respond  to  the  call.  The  design  of  the  pagans  was 
more  than  met  by  the  '  obstinacy '  of  the  Christians. 
Hell  was  let  loose  in  its  vilest  and  most  cruel  forms ; 4 

1  AM  406.    Aug.  12,  304.    Euplius  seems  to  have  sought  martyr- 
dom.    See  infra  p.  343  n. 

2  Lact.  MP  17. 

8  See  Mason  PD  210-7  for  the  circumstances  of  this  fourth  edict 
See  also  Euseb.  MP  3, 

4  To  this  period  we  must  assign  tho  oases  in  infra  App.  H. 


THE  GEEAT  PERSECUTIONS  277 

but  against  the  onward  march  of  the  hosts  of  God 
its  gates  could  not  prevail. 

The  retirement  of  Diocletian  (May  1, 305)  removed 
from  the  persecutors  all  restraint.  Diocles,  for  the 
ex-emperor  resumed  his  original  name,  settled  down 
to  cultivate  his  cabbages  at  Salona,  in  Dalmatia; 
Galerius  and  Maximin  Daza — this  last  '  a  young 
half  savage,  more  accustomed  to  herds  and  woods,' 1 
a  kinsman  of  Galerius — addressed  themselves  to 
their  task  of  crushing  out  the  Church,  though 
distracted  for  a  while  by  many  difficulties  with  regard 
to  the  succession.  But  the  pace  was  too  great  to 
last,  and  in  808  mutilation  was  substituted  for  death 
as  the  punishment  of  the  faith.  At  Caesarea  Eusebius 
saw  one  day  ninety-seven  Christians,  men,  women, 
and  even  young  children,  on  their  way  to  the  mines 
at  Phaeno,  each  one  minus  the  right  eye,  and  with 
the  left  foot  disabled  by  hot  irons.2  For  a  few 
months  the  '  flame  of  persecution  relaxed  its 
violence,  almost  extinguished  by  the  streams  of 
sacred  blood.'3  But  in  the  autumn  of  308  there 
began  a  new  reign  of  terror,  in  the  various  acts  of 
which  we  may  trace  the  diabolical  genius  of 
Theotecnus,  a  Neoplatonist.  A  fifth  edict  appeared 
even  more  stringent  than  the  previous.  The  fallen 
idols  were  to  be  re-erected,  all  households  were  to 
sacrifice,  and,  lest  there  should  be  any  escape,  all 

For  Daza's  sensuality  see  Lact  HP  (38)  4,  which  Brandt,  the  oritio 
of  Laotantius,  however,  considers  exaggerated. 

1  Lact.  MP  19.    Salona  is  the  modern  Spalato. 

•  Euseb.  MP  8.  »  Ib.  9. 


278        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

goods  for  sale  in  the  markets  were  to  be  polluted  by 
libations.1  For  two  years  it  rained  blood.  In  some 
towns  the  streets  were  strewn  with  fragments  of 
corpses.  But  in  311  Galerius  relented.  He  was 
on  his  deathbed,  tormented  with  the  disease  vulgarly 
known  as  the  being  eaten  of  worms.2  Like  all  the 
men  of  his  day,  he  was  the  prey  of  superstition. 

The  gods  whom  he  had  defended  had  not  helped 
him;  perhaps  it  was  not  too  late  to  appeal  to  the  new 
deity.  So  from  his  dying  bed  he  issued  (April  30, 
311)  his  famous  edict  of  toleration — 'ut  denuo  sint 
Christiani ' 8 — which  bore  also  the  signatures  of  Con- 
stantine  and  Licinius,  or,  as  he  should  rightly  be 
called  after  his  elevation,  Licinian,  for  Maxentius, 
who  ruled  in  Italy,  the  son  of  Diocletian's  colleague 
Maximian  Herculius,  was  not  recognized  by  the 
others  as  a  lawful  emperor.  In  this  extraordinary 
document,  wrung  from  a  man  by  the  terrors  of  the 
unknown,  Galerius  tried  to  dupe  the  Christians  and 
their  God  into  remitting  for  him  the  punishment  of 
his  cruelties.  He  had  only  persecuted,  he  maintained, 
to  '  bring  back  to  a  good  disposition  the  Christians 
who  had  abandoned  the  persuasion  (sectqm)  of  their 
own  fathers  '  and  '  the  institutions  of  the  ancients.' 4 

1  Euseb.  MP9(2). 

2  Fully  described  (evidently  con  amore)  by  Laot.  MP  33,  and 
Euseb.  HE  viii  16. 

3  The  phraseology  is  probably  legal.    The  law  against  Christiana 
in  Tertullian'a  time  was  this : '  non  licet  esse  vos.'    Tert.  Apol.  4. 

4  The  phrase  is  crafty.    The  heathen  would  take  it  to  mean  the 
national  gods ;  many  Christians,  especially  the  zealous  Montanists, 
&c.,  would  hold  that  it  signified  primitive  Christianity. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  279 

He  confessed  that  he  had  failed  to  induce  his  victims 

*  to  display  due  reverence  for  the  gods,  or  pay  heed 
to  the  God  of  the  Christians.'     So  the  edicts  are 
rescinded;   in  return  the  Christians  were  expected 
'  to  pray  to  their  God  for  our  recovery.'    But  it  was 
too  late.     "  The  unknown  God  to  whom  Galerius  had 
at  last  betaken  himself  gave  no  answer  to  his  insolent 
and  tardy  invocation."1    Five  days  or  so  after  the 
decree  was  posted  at  Nicomedeia  Galerius  died  in 
Sardica.  His  dominions  were  shared  between  Maximin 
Daza  and  Licinian. 

Maximin  Daza  had  refused  to  affix  his  seal  to 
this  edict  of  toleration.  He  seems,  however,  to  have 
issued  some  instructions  of  his  own  to  the  magistrates 
of  the  Eastern  provinces,  informing  them  that  they 

*  need  not  for  the  present  exert  themselves  further  in 
the  cause.' 2    From  a  thousand  prisons  and  ergastula, 
from  mines  and  islands,  the  scarred  warriors  of  Christ 
streamed  home.    Everywhere  men  began  to  re-erect 
their  ruined  churches,  or  to  build  new  oratories  over 
the  graves  of  th^  sainted  martyrs.     But  Theotecnus 
and  his  band  did  not  intend  thus  tamely  to  yield. 
As  Maximin  toured  round  the  East  he   was   met 
by  deputations  from  the  heathen  cities,  urging  that 
they  might    have    local  option  in    the    matter    of 
persecution.    In  Nicomedeia,  to  take  one  illustration 
recorded  for  us  by  Maximin  himself,  a  huge  memorial 

1  Broglie  L'figlise  et  L'Empire  i  207,  quoted  by  Mason.  For  this 
edict  in  Latin  see  Lact.  MP  34,  and  in  Greek  Euseb.  HE  viii  17. 
Note  the  imposing  array  of  titles. 

8  Euseb. 


280        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

was  presented  to  him,  with  due  procession  of  gods 
and  the  like,  asking  permission  to  banish  the  atheists.1 
At  Tyre  the  town  council  put  up  a  brass  tablet  for- 
bidding Christianity  within  the  city.  On  receiving 
the  news,  Maximin  wrote  to  them  his  delight : 

*  At  last  weakness  bas  become  strong.  The  nigbt  of  error  is  scatter- 
ing. Tbe  mist  is  breaking.  .  .  .  Ask  what  you  like;  you  shall 
assuredly  receive  it.'  * 

At  the  same  time  steps  were  taken  for  the  reforma- 
tion of  paganism.  The  Christian  sacraments  and 
institutions  were  imitated,  a  heathen  hierarchy  estab- 
lished of  men  of  high  rank.8  For  the  mob  there 
was  a  clever  winking  Jove,  for  the  devout  a  daily 
heathen  service.4  To  the  new  pontiffs  was  given  the 
power  of  mulcting  in  noses,  eyes,  and  ears  those 
who  absented  themselves  from  the  temples.  Four 
prostitutes  of  Damascus  professed  that  they  had 
once  been  Christians,  and  had  learned  their  trade  by 
participating  at  Christian  sacraments.  Copies  of 
their  statements  were  circulated  broadcast,  while 
Theotecnus  ordered  that  the  infamous  Acts  of  Pilate, 
which  bespattered  the  Saviour  with  mud  and  His 
Cross  with  contempt,  should  be  taught  in  all  the 
schools.5 

The  device  of  local  option  in  persecution  succeeded 

1  EuMb.JBr.Eix  (9)  17, 18, 19. 

2  Euseb.  HE  ix  7  gives  this  extraordinary  letter  in  full.    It  also 
•was  engraved  on  brass  by  the  town  council. 

a  Cf.  illustrations  in  Ramsay  GBP  ii  567. 

4  Euseb.  HE  ix  3,  ix  4,  Tiii  14,  9 ;  Lact.  HP  36,  87,    Date,  end  of 
312. 

•  See  supra  p.  21  n. ;  Euseb.  HE  ix  5. 


THE  GREAT  PERSECUTIONS  281 

admirably.  Wherever  in  the  East  the  heathen  were 
in  a  majority,  they  tried  to  cut  down  the  leaders  of 
the  Church.  Lucian  of  Antioch,  Peter  of  Alexandria, 
Anthimus  of  Nicomedeia,  are  but  three  names  out  of 
'  a  perfect  choir  of  martyrs '  who  suffered  at  this 
time.  Christian  Armenia  determined  to  interfere. 
The  war  which  followed — the  first  crusade  known  to 
history — ended  in  the  defeat  of  Daza.1 

At  this  stage  a  greater  than  Armenia  intervened. 
The  fortunes  of  Constantino,  whose  grandfather,  on 
his  mother  Helena's  side,  kept  a  village  inn  in  Dacia, 
from  his  birth  to  his  famous  ride  from  Nicomedeia 
across  Europe  back  to  his  father  Constantius'  court 
at  Boulogne,  may  be  read  elsewhere.  The  death  of 
Constantius  at  York  (July  25,  306)  was  followed  by 
his  own  elevation  to  the  purple,  with  the  title  of 
Caesar.  His  passage  of  the  Alps  and  subsequent 
victory  over  the  vicious  Maxentius  at  the  Milvian 
Bridge  (October  27,  312)  will  stand  out  for  ever  in 
the  annals  of  both  Empire  and  Church.  Constantine 
had  seen  his  vision ;  henceforth  he  did  homage  to 
the  conquering  power  of  the  Cross.  The  God  of 
the  Christians  was  too  powerful  to  be  despised. 
Pagan  and  Christian  alike  attributed  his  success  to 
divine  interposition — '  instinctu  divinitatis,'  as  the 
ambiguous  inscription  on  his  arch  phrases  it.  With 
this  conviction  deeply  implanted — we  may  call  it 
Constantino's  conversion  provided  we  clearly  under- 
stand our  terms 2 — the  great  statesman  went  down  to 

1  Euseb.  HEixS. 

1  The    various   views    on    the    conversion    of    Constantine    are 


282        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

Milan  to  meet  his  colleague  Licinian.  Thence  he 
issued  (March,  313)  the  famous  document  which 
marks  an  era  in  the  history  of  the  world.1 

'  We  have  long  seen,'  ran  the  edict,  *  that  we  have  no  business  to 
refuse  freedom  of  religion.  The  power  of  seeing  to  matters  of  belief 
must  be  left  to  the  judgement  and  desire  of  each  individual,  according 
to  the  man's  own  free  will.' 

The  defeat  of  Daza  by  Licinian  near  Adrian ople 
(April  30,  313)  turned  the  edict  into  accomplished 
fact  in  the  East  as  well  as  the  West.  On  June  13, 
313,  Lactantius  heard  the  edict  read  aloud  to  the 
remnant  of  the  sorely  tried  Church  at  Nicomedeia. 
A  few  weeks  later  Daza,  a  hunted  fugitive,  died  of 
delirium  tremens  in  Tarsus.  Before  the  end  came 
he  had  signified  his  adhesion  to  the  policy  of  Con- 
stantine.  He  was  the  last  of  the  persecutors  to  die. 
Diocletian,  broken  with  disappointment  and  sick- 
ness, had  already  starved  himself  to  death.2  He  had 
seen  the  Church  which  he  had  tried  to  crush  arise 
from  the  contest  with  still  greater  strength.  The 
Empire  was  defeated;  the  Galilean  had  conquered. 
A  new  chapter  had  begun  in  the  long  annals  of 
humanity. 

adequately  summarized  by  Bury,  Gibbon  ii  App.  19.  See  also  Boissier 
FPio.  land  p.  61. 

1  The  Latin  original  in  Lact.  MP  48 ;  Gk.  trans,  in  Euseb.  HEn  5. 
Whether  this  edict  was  actually  issued  is  not  quite  certain.    See, 
however,  Bury's  Gibbon  ii  567. 

2  But   this   etory  is   very  doubtful.      See  Duruy  ER  ?i  636. 
Diocletian  died  in  the  summer  of  313. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  EXPEEIENCES   OF    THE    PERSECUTED 


And  one  of  the  elders  answered,  saying  unto  me,  What  are  these 
which  are  arrayed  in  white  robes?  and  whence  came  they?  And 
I  said  unto  him,  Sir,  thou  knowest.  And  he  said  unto  me,  These 
are  they  which  came  out  of  great  tribulation,  and  have  washed  their 
robes,  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb. — Apoc.  rii 
13,  14. 

Others  were  tortured,  not  accepting  deliverance  ;  that  they  might 
obtain  a  better  resurrection  :  And  others  had  trial  of  cruel  mockings 
and  scourgings,  yea,  moreover  of  bonds  and  imprisonment :  They  were 
stoned,  they  were  sawn  asunder,  were  tempted,  were  slain  with  the 
sword  ...  (of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy :)  .  .  .  Wherefore,  seeing 
we  also  are  compassed  about  with  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  let 
us  run  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before  us. — Heb.  xi  35-xii  1. 

Do  I  feel  much  pain  ? 

Not  much.    Not  maddening.    None  I  cannot  bear. 
It  has  become  like  part  of  my  own  life, 
Or  part  of  God's  life  in  me— heaven — bliss ! 
I  dreaded  madness,  and  instead  comes  rest. 

KINGSLEY,  St.  Maura. 

Via  crucis,  via  lucis ; 
Per  angusta,  ad  augusta. 


CONTENTS 

§  I,  p.  285.  The  horrors  of  persecution—The  cruelty  of  Nero — Mob 
rule— The  story  of  Genesiua — The  prisons — Good  Samaritans 
and  their  fate— The  mines — The  martyrs  of  Lyons— Pionius  of 
Smyrna — Julitta. 

§  II,  p.  298.  The  punishments  of  Christians— Life  in  the  mines— The 
fate  of  women. 

§  III,  p.  303.  Mr.  Fearing  —  Polycarp  —  Cyprian  —  Perpetua  and 
Felicitas. 

§  IY,  p.  318.  The  entreaties  of  loved  ones— Perpetua — Phileas  of 
Thmuis — Irenaeus  of  Sirmium — Afra — Marianus — Quartillosia — 
Flavian — Fructuosus — The  meaning  of  'Birthday* — 'Going  to 
Heaven ' — Dativus — Agathonice — Babylas — Maximus  and  Tara- 
chus— The  martyrs'  contempt  of  death — Nestor — The  story  of 
Ignatius. 

§  V,  p.  338.  Backsliders  —  Libelli  —  Copies  recently  discovered  — 
— Euctemon. 

§  VI,  p.  343.  Conclusion.  The  dangers  and  triumphs  of  martyrdom 
— The  martyrs  as  'Witnesses  '—Their  emphatic  credo — '  Jesus  is 
Lord* — Man  "more  than  a  dull  jest"  —  Social  revolutions — 
Blandina — The  Cause  of  Triumph — The  dynamic  of  Eenuncia- 
tion. 

Pp.  283-352. 


THE  student  should  realize  all  that  the  profession  of 
the  Name  involved.1  The  persecution  of  Nero,  that 
baptism  of  blood  of  the  Eoman  Church,  has  been 
described  for  us  by  a  master  of  language,  the  vividness 
of  whose  picture  loses  nothing  from  his  manifest 
contempt  for  the  Christians  themselves  struggling 
with  his  horror  at  the  outrage,  or  his  hatred  of  the 
tyrant.  In  a  short  chapter  of  Tacitus  we  have  one 
of  the  most  awful  scenes  of  infamy  of  all  time  : 

'  Mockery  of  every  sort  was  added  to  their  deaths.  Covered  with 
the  skins  of  beasts,  they  were  torn  by  dogs  and  perished,  or  wore 
nailed  to  crosses,  or  were  doomed  to  the  flames  and  burnt,*  to  serve  as 
a  nightly  illumination  when  daylight  had  expired.  Nero  offered  his 

1  Throughout  this  chapter  the  abbreviation  AM  will  be  used  for 
Buisart  Acta  Marty  rum  Sincera.     The  best  Acts  of  martyrs  have 
their  origin  in  the  official  reports  of  their  trials  (Boissier  FP  i  449, 
supra  p.  20  n.,  infra  p.  313  n.).    The  Christians  of  Cilicia  paid  200 
denarii  for  a  copy  of  the  official  report  of  the  trial  of  Tarachui, 
Probus,  and  Andronicus  in  304.    See  AM  422. 

2  'Aut  crucibus  adfixi   aut    flammandi,  atque,'  &c.      I  should 
prefer  the  reading  multi  crucibus   affixi  sunt  flammandi,  utque,  &c. 
See  Furneaux  in  loo.   .Juvenal  viii  235  calls  this  the  *  tunica  molesta ' 
(it  was  the  punishment  appropriated   to   incendiaries;    cf.  supra 
p.  133)  and  cf.  ib.  i  155-7. 

*  Pone  Tigellinum :  taeda  luoebis  in  ilia 
Qua  stantes  ardent,  qui  fixo  gutture  fumant 
Et  latum  media  sulcum  deducit  arena.' 
For  other  references  see  Seneca  Ep.  xiv  5 ;  Martial  Epig.  x  25,  5. 


286        PEESECUTION  IN  THE  EABLY  CHURCH 

gardens  for  the  spectacle,  and  was  exhibiting  a  show  in  the  circus, 
while  he  mingled  with  the  people  in  the  dress  of  a  charioteer  or 
stood  aloft  in  a  car '  (Ann.  xv  44). 

We  can  see  it  all  after  the  lapse  of  centuries,  so  lurid 
are  the  colours  :  the  twofold  entertainment,  by  night 
in  the  gardens  thronged  with  Nero's  guests,  the 
victims  in  their  pitchy  tunics  serving  as  living  torches, 
while  Nero  drives  round  to  gloat  upon  their  agony ; 
by  day 1  in  the  great  wooden  theatre  of  Caius  the  new 
sport,  the  hunt  of  men  clad  in  the  skins  of  wild 
beasts;  the  insults  worse  than  death  inflicted  upon 
women  and  girls ; 2  and  looking  down  upon  all  the 
selfsame  obelisk  from  Heliopolis  which  has  witnessed 
alike  the  oppression  and  deliverance  of  Israel  in 
Egypt ;  the  crucifixion  of  St.  Peter,  and  the  building 
of  his  famous  church ;  the  deaths  of  the  martyrs  and 

1  The  sacrifice  of  Christians  to  the  beasts  was  generally  a  morning 
spectacle.    See  Eenan  I! Ant.  165  n.    Nero's  choice  of  a  circus  in  his 
own  gardens  on  the  Vatican  was  perhaps  due  to  the  two  others,  the 
great  circus  and  the  circus  of  Flaminius,  being  burnt  (Allard  I  HP  47). 

2  Clem.  Kom.  Ep.  Cor.  6,  SwxQ^at  ywaiKes,  Aava'tSes  Kal  AtpKai, 
a  passage  which  probably  has  reference  to  some  of  Nero's  brutal  scenio 
tortures,  criminals  being  often  exhibited  as  Orpheus,  Hercules,  &c. 
(Suet.  Nero  11,  12 ;  Martial  Spectac.  5  Epig.  viii  30,  x  25).    Dirce  was 
tied  by  her  hair  to  a  bull ;  but  of  the  reference  in  the  legend  of  the 
Danaids  we  know  nothing,  though  see  Kenan  L'Antech.  169-70  for 
suggestions,  and  cf.  Suot.  Nero  29  for  possibilities  of  infamy.    Light- 
foot  (in  Zoc.)  inclines  to  read  vedvities,   irattiia-Kcu,  *  women,  tender 
maidens,  and  slave-girls.'    But  surely  this  would  have  been  for  the 
ancients  a  case  of  bathos.    Moreover,  the  representation  of  Dirce  was 
frequent.    See  Kenan  fb.  171;  Allard  I  HP  52;    Arnold  NC  38; 
Boissier  FP  i  413.    For  the  terrors  of  Christian  women,  see  infra 
Appendix  H. 

Nero's  punishment  of  Christians  was  perfectly  legal— this  is  often 
forgotten— though  characteristically  theatrical.  In  torchlight  execu- 
tions he  had  been  preceded  by  Caius  (Seneca  de  Ira  iii  18). 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED  287 

the  fall  of  the  Empire.  Henceforth  the  Christians 
were  known  in  the  slang  of  the  day  as  the  sarmenticii 
or  the  semaxii,  'because  bound  to  a  half-axle  stake 
we  are  burned  in  a  circle  of  faggots.' l 

The  Christian  was  ever  exposed  to  a  double  danger; 
on  the  one  hand  popular  hatred,  on  the  other  the 
wilfulness  of  the  local  magistrates,  who  could  twist 
into  an  instrument  of  cruelty  the  very  laws  and 
procedure  which  had  been  devised  to  prevent  injustice. 
For  instance,  the  threefold  chance  of  abjuring  their 
religion  before  condemnation,  which,  as  we  see  from 
Pliny's  letter,  was  a  right  of  the  Christians,  soon 
became  a  threefold  torture  to  secure  denial.  For 
many  governors  there  was  no  easier  way  of  winning 
popularity  with  the  mob  than  by  the  persecution  of 
the  Christians.2  Spies  abounded,  and  the  delator es, 
or  professional  accusers,8  were  not  slow  in  attempting 
to  wring  money  from  the  Christians  by  the  threat  of 
reporting  their  crime.  Add  to  this  '  the  threats  and 
extortions  of  the  soldiers  and  of  private  enemies.' 4 
In  case  of  refusal,  '  vile  informers '  entered  the 
houses  of  the  Christians  '  by  day  and  night  and  gave 
them  up  to  pillage.'5  Murder,  theft,  gross  crimes, 
'  tampering  with  family  relations,'  were  some  of  the 

1  Tert.  Apol.  50  'licet  nune  sarmentitios  et  semiaxios  appelletis 
quia  ad  stipitem  dimidii  axis  revincti,  sarmentorum  ambitu  uriemur.' 

2  Tertul.  Apol.  50, '  boni  praesides,  meliorcs  multo  apud  populum 
si  illis  Christianos  immolaveritis.' 

3  Supra  p.  215. 

4  Tert.  ad  Scap.  5.     Justin  feared  death  from  the  enmity  of  the 
rival  philosopher  Crescens.    JuBtin  II  Apol.  3,    Supra  p.  227  n.  (la). 

8  Melito  of  Sardis  in  Euseb.  HE  iv  26.    Cf.  Heb.  x  34  and  Euseb. 
HE  iii  17, « confiscation  of  their  property.' 


288        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

charges,  as  we  have  already  seen,  that  were  freely 
brought  against  the  Christians  and  accepted  as  proved 
by  evidence  wrung  out  from  their  servants  by  torture.1 
Against  them,  as  Seneca  said  of  slaves,  everything 
was  lawful.  City  mobs  laughed  at  the  vile  placards 
which  caricatured  their  God,  'born  of  an  ass,  with  the 
ears  of  an  ass,  hoofed  in  one  foot,  carrying  a  book  and 
wearing  a  toga ; '  or  drew  an  obscene  representation 
of  a  cock  with  the  inscription  beneath,  "  The  Saviour 
of  the  world."  2  For  the  conscientious  a  new  difficulty 
was  added  to  life  by  the  sprinkling  of  everything  sold 
in  the  markets  with  heathen  drink-offerings.8 

In  the  theatres  mimes  clothed  in  white  garments 
parodied  the  Christian's  hopes  and  sacred  rites  to 
the  huge  amusement  of  the  crowd.  But  in  one  case 
this  jest  turned  out  to  the  furtherance  of  the  Gospel. 
To  please  Diocletian,  who  happened  to  be  present, 
the  mime  Genesius — 

*  made  sport  of  the  Christian  mysteries.  "  I  feel  so  heavy,"  he  cried, 
as  he  lay  down  on  the  stage  as  if  he  were  ill,  «'  I  want  to  be  made 


1  Case  of  Lyons :    Euseb.  HE  v  1.      See  infra  p.  295.      Such 
evidence  was  not  admissible  except  in  trials  for  majestas  (JDig.  xlviii 
417 ;  18 ;  Paul.  Sent,  v  16 ;  and  for  the  torture  of  women,  Dig.  xlviii 
4,  8).    In  older  times  such  torture  was  limited  to  charges  of  incest 
(Cic,  Pro  Milone  22).    Christian  masters  with  heathen  slaves  were  in 
a  very  awkward  position. 

2  Tert.  ad  Nat.  i  14.    See  supra  p.  Ill  n.    For  obscene  representa- 
tions of  Christianity  on  walls,  &c.,  see  Renan  L'Ant.  40  n.  MA  64-5. 
The  well-known  graffito  discovered  in  1856  on  the  wall  of  the  Palatine 
of  a  crucified  ass,  with  a  motto  "  Alexameuos  is  worshipping  his  god  " 
underneath,  dates  probably  from  the  second  century.    See  Lanciani 
Ancient  Rome  122  and  ib.  CPU  12. 

3  Euseb.  MP  9.    Time  of  Maximin. 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED     289 

light."  "  How  are  we  to  do  it  ?"  his  companions  cried.  "  Are  we  to 
plane  you  as  if  we  were  carpenters  ?  "  "  Idiots,"  replied  Genesius ; 
*'I  want  to  die  a  Christian,  that  on  that  day  I  may  fly  up  to  God 
as  a  refuge."  So  they  summoned  a  (sham)  presbyter  and  exorcist. 
"  Why  have  you  sent  for  us,  my  son  ?  "  they  asked.' 

The  rest  of  the  story  is  one  of  the  miracles  of  grace. 
Genesius,  it  would  appear,  had  sprung  from  a  Christian 
home  in  Aries ;  he  had  picked  up  his  knowledge  of 
religious  phrases  when  a  little  lad.  Of  the  story  of 
his  fall  we  know  nothing,  or  rather  we  know  all 
from  ten  thousand  similar  experiences.  But  now 
'  in  a  moment '  the  work  of  conviction  began,  and 
on  the  boards  of  the  theatre,  with  mock  priest  and 
exorcist  at  his  side,  the  laughing  crowd  all  round, 
Genesius  cried  out,  'no  longer  in  acting,  but  from 
an  unfeigned  desire  :  "I  want  to  receive  the  grace  of 
Christ,  that  I  may  be  born  again,  and  be  set  free 
from  the  sins  which  have  been  my  ruin.'"  The 
pantomime  was  turned  into  reality.  The  mock  bap- 
tism over — for  the  crowd  still  thought  he  was  acting 
— Genesius  boldly  proclaimed  aloud  his  faith :  '  Il- 
lustrious emperor,  and  all  you  people  who  have 
laughed  loudly  at  this  parody,  believe  me :  Christ 
is  the  true  Lord/  When  Diocletian  understood  how 
matters  lay  he  ordered  Genesius  to  be  stretched 
on  the  hobby-horse.  His  sides  were  torn  with  the 
claws,  and  burned  with  torches.  But  he  kept 
repeating — 

*  There  is  no  king  except  Christ,  whom  I  have  seen  and  worship. 
For  Him  I  will  die  a  thousand  times.  I  am  sorry  for  my  sin,  and 
for  becoming  so  late  a  soldier  of  the  true  King.' 

U 


290        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

At  length,  as  all  tortures  failed,  Plautian  the  prefect 
ordered  him  to  be  beheaded.1 

When  the  storm  broke,  no  retreat  however  secluded 
could  save  the  persecuted  from  the  pursuer ;  no 
station  in  life  however  humble  was  too  lowly  or 
insignificant  to  supply  its  victims  : 

Remember  what  a  martyr  said 

On  the  rude  tablet  overhead  1 

"  I  was  born  sickly,  poor,  and  mean, 

A  slave  :  no  misery  could  screen 

The  holders  of  the  pearl  of  price 

From  Caesar's  envy  :  therefore  twice 

I  fought  with  beasts,  and  three  times  saw 

My  children  suffer  by  his  law." 

For  the  believer  the  routine  of  life  itself  became  a 
martyrdom.  '  We  are  banished,'  wrote  the  Christians 
of  Lyons,  '  from  the  baths  and  forum ;  we  are  for- 
bidden to  appear  in  any  public  place  whatever,'2  a 

1  AM  270.    Ruinart  dates  in  286.    But  if  Diocletian  was  really 
present,  it  must  have  been  on  the  occasion  of  one  of  his  rare  visits  to 
Rome,  probably,  as  Baronius  suggests,  in  303.     In  DCS  ii  627  there 
are  two  martyrs  Genesius,  both  with  the  same  day,  August  25,  303. 
Probably  DCB  is  wrong  in  thus  making  them  distinct,  for  the  two 
stories  so  well  fit  into  each  other  that  (compare  Prudent.  Peristeph  iv 
35-6)  we  may  well  assume  this  Genesius  the  mime  was  originally  a 
notary  of  Aries,  who  was  thus  'baptized  with  his  own  blood.'    (See 
also  Lightf.  Clem,  ii  455  n.)     Genesius  is  buried  in  the  cemetery 
of  Hippolytus.     (Rossi  US  i  178.)    In  the  Chronicon  Pawhale  s.v. 
297  (Migne  PG  xcii  p.  686),  he  is  called  Gelasinus,  and  the  scene  is 
changed  to  « Heliopolis  Libaniensis,'  i.e.  Baalbek.     The  story  is  too 
widely  spread  and  also  too  simply  told  not  to  have  a  foundation  of 
truth.    It  is,  however,  rejected  by  V.  der  Lage  Studien  z.  Genesiw- 
Legende  (Berlin  1898-9). 

2  Euseb.  HE  v  (1)  5 ;  Gebhardt  AMS  28.    In  Caesarea  in  310  no 
one  was  allowed  to  use  the  baths  unless  he  first  sacrificed.    Euseb. 
MP9. 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED      291 

boycott  by  no  means  unusual.  The  Christian  lived 
at  the  mercy  of  the  mob ;  who,  stirred  up  by  pagan 
priest  or  Jewish  gold,  might  burst  at  any  moment  into 
his  house  and  drag  him  forth  to  torture  and  death. 
'  Every  one,'  writes  Phileas  of  Thmuis,  *  had  the 
liberty  to  abuse  us  as  they  pleased,  with  clubs,  rods, 
and  scourges.' l  *  We  saw  the  mob ' — we  quote 
Dionysius  of  Alexandria  in  his  description  of  the 
persecution  of  Decius — 

'  suddenly  burst  into  our  dwellings  as  if  by  one  common  impulse. 
Every  man  entered  some  house  known  to  him  and  began  to  spoil  and 
destroy.  All  valuables  were  seized ;  things  not  worth  carrying  away, 
wooden  furniture  for  instance,  were  burnt  in  the  road.  The  scene 
resembled  a  town  taken  by  storm.' 2 

When  brought  before  the  judge,  the  mob  followed 
and  clamoured  for  the  Christian's  condemnation.  At 
other  times,  as  in  the  case  of  Apollonia,  in  the  same 
persecution  at  Alexandria,  they  took  the  law  into 
their  own  hands,  'breaking  all  her  teeth,  and  kindling 
a  fire  in  which  they  threatened  to  burn  her  alive.'  8 
Even  after  death — though,  to  the  honour  of  the 
Eomans,  this  was  rare — popular  hatred  pursued  the 
Christians  still,  tearing  their  corpses  from  the  tombs 
and  cutting  them  in  pieces,4  throwing  to  the  dogs 
those  who  had  died  in  prison  'that  none  should  receive 
burial  from  us,'  or  casting  the  ashes  into  the  river, 
lest,  as  the  cruel  Maximus  sneered,  '  they  should  be 
tended  by  silly  women  and  anointed  with  spices.' 5 

1  Euseb.  HE  viii.  10.     In  305  (Harnack  GAL  ii  70). 

2  Euseb.  HE  vi  41  or  AM  125.    Cf.  Mart  Polyc.  13. 

8  Euseb.  HE  vi  41.  4  Tert.  Apol  37,  Euseb.  MP  9. 

8  Lyons ;   Euseb.  HE  v  (1)  59,  61 ;  Geb.  AMS  40,  41.    Case  of 
Tarachus  AM  436.     See  supra  p.  285  n.,  infra  330-1. 


292        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

Happy  indeed  were  those  Christians  for  whom 
kindly  death  soon  ended  all.  Others  were  thrown 
into  horrible  prisons  into  which  light  and  air  could 
scarcely  enter.  In  the  persecution  of  Diocletian, 
'  dungeons  destined  for  murderers  and  the  vilest 
criminals  were  filled  with  bishops,  presbyters,  deacons, 
readers,  exorcists,  so  that  there  was  no  room  left  for 
real  criminals.'1  'We  have  been  cast,'  write  the 
martyrs  of  Carthage — 

'  into  two  dungeons.  There,  doomed  to  die  of  hunger  and  thirst,  our 
life  is  being  consumed  away.  The  stifling  heat,  caused  by  our 
crowded  numbers,  is  intolerable.  Eight  days  have  passed  since  this 
letter  was  begun.  During  the  last  five  days  only  bread  and  water 
have  been  doled  out  to  us.' 2 

*  You  conquer  hunger,'  wrote  Cyprian,  '  despise  thirst, 
and  tread  underfoot  the  squalor  of  the  dungeon  and 
its  horrors  by  the  vigour  of  your  courage.' 3  '  Prison,' 
exclaims  Tertullian  in  his  impassioned  address  To  the 
Martyrs  (c.  2) — 

'  does  the  same  service  for  the  Christian  which  the  desert  did  for  the 
prophet.  .  .  .  Let  us  therefore  drop  the  name  of  prison  and  call  it 
a  place  of  retirement.  Though  the  body  is  shut  in,  all  things  are 
open  to  the  spirit.  In  spirit,  then,  roam  abroad,  not  setting  before 
you  shady  paths  or  long  colonnades  but  the  way  which  leads  to  God. 
.  .  .  The  leg  does  not  feel  the  chain  if  the  mind  is  in  heaven.' 

But  even  the  horrors  of  the  prison  could  not  quench 
their  faith  and  zeal.  At  Smyrna  Pionius  and  his 
comrades,  when  flung  into  the  darkest  hole,  'sang 
without  ceasing,  Glory  to  Thee,  O  God.' 4 

1  Euseb.  HE  viii  6. 

2  Lucian  in  Cyprian  Ep.  xxii  2,  a  free  rendering.    Cf.  AM  231 
(Montanus,  Lucius,  &c.). 

8  Cyprian  Ep.  xxxvii  3. 

4  AM  145.     Gebhardt  AM8  105.    See  infra  p.  297. 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PEESECUTED     293 

The  one  relief  of  the  imprisoned  Christians  lay  in 
the  visits  and  charity  of  their  brethren.  These  visits 
were  allowed,  possibly  as  the  easiest  way  whereby 
the  authorities  could  learn  the  names  of  others  of  the 
faith  still  at  large,  more  probably  because  of  the  itch- 
ing palms  of  the  gaolers,1  and  the  indifference  of  the 
governors.  So  easy  in  fact  was  it  to  obtain  admission, 
that  Cyprian  found  it  necessary  to  urge  the  Christians 
of  Carthage  not  to  visit  the  prison  in  crowds,  '  lest 
the  means  of  access  be  denied.  2  But  in  the  case  of 
distinguished  confessors,  converse  with  whom  was 
held  to  be  itself  a  blessing,  it  was  difficult  to  keep  the 
Christians  away  from  their  cells.  '  Creeping  into  gaol 
to  kiss  the  martyrs'  chains '  was  one  of  the  things 
which  the  heathen  husband,  in  the  complaint  of 
Tertullian,  would  not  allow  his  Christian  wife  to  do.3 

The  prison  system,  by  flinging  the  burden  of  sup- 
port upon  the  prisoner,  as  was  the  case  in  all  countries 
until  recent  days,  lent  itself  to  these  visits.  Lucian 
tells  us  that  when  Peregrinus,  at  that  time  a  pro- 
fessor, was  cast  into  prison,  the  Christians,  especially 
the  widows,4  '  looked  after  his  wants  with  unremitting 
care  and  zeal,  waiting  about  the  doors  of  his  gaol,' 

1  For  entrance  by  bribery  cf.  Acta  Theclae  18  (in  Lips,  and  Bon. 
AAA  i  247,  or  Gebhardt  AMS  220),  Lucian  PP  12.     But  in  Euseb. 
HE  v  (1)  61,  *  money  failed'  in  the  drastic  persecution  at  Lyons. 
Sometimes  gaolers  admitted  friends  from  sympathy  or  respect,  e.g. 
Acta  Perpet.  9  (ed.  Robinson  75  or  Geb.  AMS  75). 

2  Cyprian  Ep.  v  2. 

3  Tert.  ad.  Uxor.  ii  4,  5.     See  supra  p.  146. 

4  I.e.  the  sub-order  of    deaconesses.      On    the    "widows"    see 
Uhlhorn  CCAC  168  ff.  or  DCA  ii  2034  and  supra  p.  211  n.    The  locw 
elassicus  is  Apost.  Comtit.  iii  §  I. 


294       PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

sending  in  '  costly  meals/  and  collecting  large  sums 
in  Asia  for  his  defence.1  We  have  a  confirmation  of 
this  in  the  Acts  of  many  martyrs,  in  the  positive 
direction  of  the  Apostolic  Constitutions,  as  well  as  in 
the  statement  of  Tertullian,  that  '  the  monthly  col- 
lection * — the  law,  as  we  have  seen,  would  not  allow 
collections  more  frequently  2 — was  spent,  among  other 
objects  of  charity,  on  the  Christians  banished  to  the 
islands  and  mines,  '  so  long  as  their  distress  is  for  the 
sake  of  God's  fellowship.'3  This  last  clause  was  a 
needful  precaution  against  designing  rogues  of  the 
Peregrinus  order,  who  tried  to  make  out  that  their 
imprisonment  for  other  misdemeanours  was  really  on 
behalf  of  the  faith,  and  thus  sponged  on  the  unfailing 
charity  of  the  Church.4  Of  the  young  Origen  we  are 
told  that  'not  only  was  he  at  the  side  of  the  holy 
martyrs  in  their  imprisonment  and  until  their  final 
condemnation;  when  led  out  to  death  he  boldly 
accompanied  them.'5  Such  ministries  of  love  were 
not  always  without  danger.  In  February,  809  or  310, 
five  Egyptian  travellers  arrived  before  the  gates  of 
Caesarea.  They  were  Christians  who  had  accom- 
panied their  brethren  to  the  mines  in  Cilicia,  to  act 

»  Lucian  PP  12,  13, 16. 

2  Supra  p.  70. 

8  Tert.  Apol.  39.  Of  notices  of  the  Church's  care  for  confessors 
in  prison  (I  omit  captivity  among  robbers,  &c.)  the  following  will 
serve :  Aristides  Apol.  15  (in  T8  (i)  1) ;  Apost.  Constit.  v  1  (important), 
iv  9;  Tert.  ad  Mart.  1;  Justin  M.  I  Apol.  67;  Ada  Perpet.  iii  (7); 
Acts  of  Codratim  in  Conybeare  MEG  193 ;  Ign.  ad  Smyr.  6. 

4  Cf.  Tert.  Fasting  12,  'restaurants  for  dubious  martyrs,'  «  all  sorts 
of  baths.'  (But  this  passage  is  very  exaggerated.) 

•  Euseb.  HE  vi  3,  cf.  ib.  vii  (ii)  3  (case  of  a  « brother  from  Rome'). 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED     295 

as  good  Samaritans,  and  who  were  now  returning 
home.  They  were  seized,  and  after  incredible  tortures 
entered  '  the  mighty  portals  of  eternal  life.' l  There 
were  times  when  to  give  the  kiss  of  brotherhood  to 
one  of  the  martyrs  was  itself  to  court  instant  death.2 
Of  mob  rule  and  its  dangers  to  the  Church  no 
better  illustration  can  be  found  than  in  the  famous 
case  of  the  Christians  of  Lyons.8  The  persecution  in 

1  Euseb.  MP  11,  also  another  case  MP  10.    The  Church  of  Rome 
especially  looked  after  the  brethren  in  the  mines  (Letter  of  Dionysius 
to  bp.  Soter  in  Euseb.  HE  iv  23).     Bp.  Victor  kept  a  list  of  all 
sentenced  in  Sardinia  (Hippolytus  Philos.  ix  12).     See  supra  p.  119  n. 

2  Cases  of  Theoclulus  and  Julian  at  Caesarea  in  310  (Euseb. 
MP  11).    Licinian  made  it  penal  to  supply  Christians  'starving  in 
prison '  with  food  (Euseb.  HE  x  8). 

3  For  Blandina  (infra  p.  349),  Pothinus,  and  the  persecution  at 
Lyons  in  177  see  Euseb.  HE  v  1  (Gebhardt  AM8  28  ff  ),  quoting  from 
'  a  letter  to  the  brethren  of  Phrygia  and  Asia.'    Two  of  the  brethren, 
Attains  of  Pergamum  and  Alexander  the  physician,  hailed  from 
those  parts.    Renan  EC  467  conjectures  that  the  Church  of  Lyons 
was  founded  by  a  Christian  colony  from  Smyrna,  and  several  of  the 
names  given  in  Gregory  of  Tours  (Glor.  Mart,  i  49  see  infra)  are 
Greek ;  see  also  supra  37  n.(also  the  reading  of  X  o  in  II  Tim.  iv  10) 
for  possible  origin  of  the  churches  in  the  Rhone  valley,  and  Duchesne 
PEG  i  179-80,  246-7. 

As  Mommsen  PEE  i  87  f.  points  out,  Lyons,  unlike  the  majority  of 
the  cities  of  S.  France,  was  founded  direct  from  Italy,  and  was  a 
Roman  city  in  character  and  origin.  The  Greek  or  alien  nature 
of  its  Church  is  therefore  remarkable.  The  name  Blandina  may  be 
Celtic  (see  infra),  but  except  for  this  the  Church  of  Lyons  seems 
to  have  made  no  impression  on  the  Celtic  populations.  But  under 
Irenaeus  Haer.  i  (10)  2  Christianity  spread  to  the  Celts  of  Condate, 
the  village  on  the  tip  of  land  between  the  Rhone  and  Saone. 

Pothinus,  i.e.  QuTeivAs,  the  bishop  of  this  Church,  is  said  to  have 
been  over  ninety  years  of  age.  Though  there  is  no  evidence  for  his 
having  migrated  from  Asia  Minor  to  Lyons  (Lightf.  Ign.  i  446  n.), 
he  yet  forms  a  link  with  the  apostles.  He  was  succeeded  at  Lyons 
by  Irenaeus,  who  was  educated  in  Asia  Minor  under  Polycarp  (Euseb, 


296        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

that  great  capital  of  Gaul  had  begun  in  a  boycott, 
rendered  the  more  easy  by  the  foreign  origin — in 
part  Greek,  to  some  extent  Phrygian — of  the  little 
Church.  From  this  it  passed  to 

'  Lootings  and  blows,  draggings,  plunderings,  starvings,  and  confine- 
ments, everything  that  an  infuriated  mob  is  wont  to  perpetrate 
against  those  whom  they  deem  bitter  enemies.  And  at  length,  being 
brought  to  the  forum  by  the  tribune  of  the  soldiers,  and  the  magis- 
trates that  had  charge  of  the  city,  they  were  examined  in  the 
presence  of  the  whole  multitude;  and  having  confessed  they  were 
shut  up  in  prison  until  the  arrival  of  the  governor.' 

When  the  Christians  were  brought  before  the  judge- 
ment seat,  Vettius  Epagathus,  no  alien  but  a  young 
nobleman  of  Lyons, 

'  asked  that  he  should  be  heard  in  defence  of  his  brethren.  On  this 
those  who  were  round  the  judgement-seat  so  cried  out  against  him 
that  the  governor,  not  for  a  moment  listening  to  his  just  request, 
merely  asked  if  he  were  a  Christian.  And  on  his  confessing  in  the 
clearest  voice  that  he  was,  he  was  immediately  taken  up  into  the 
number  of  the  martyrs.' 

When  the  aged  bishop  Pothinus  was  brought  to  the 
bar,  the  mob 

'  maltreated  him  in  every  way  with  their  hands  and  feet,  while  those 
at  a  distance  hurled  at  him  whatever  came  to  hand,  for  so  they 
thought  they  would  avenge  their  gods.' 

Before  the  persecution  ceased  forty-eight  martyrs  had 
won  their  discharge.1 

HE  v  20,  Lightfoot  Ign.  i  448  n.  Tourists  must  look  for  the  scene 
of  this  martyrdom  in  the  oldest  quarter  of  Lyons,  now  called  Fourviere, 
i.e.  "  Forum  Vetus "  (Renan  MA  306  n.).  For  all  that  is  known 
concerning  the  Church  at  Lyons  see  Hirschfeld's  monograph  in 
Preuss.  Akad.  (1895)  381  ff. ;  or  Duchesne  FEG  ii  160  ff. 

1  So  Greg.  Tours  Glor.  Mart,  i  49  quoting  Eusebius  and  giving  the 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED      297 

Or  let  the  reader  study  the  records  of  the  presbyter 
Pionius,1  who  was  arrested  with  his  companions  '  on 
the  birthday  of  the  blessed  martyr  Polycarp.'  See 
the  little  band  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  square  of 
Smyrna,  surrounded  by  a  brutal  and  jeering  mob. 
They  are  not  all  '  of  the  Catholic  Church.'  One  of 
the  prisoners,  Eutychian  by  name,  is  a  Montanist ; 
another,  Metrodore,  is  '  a  presbyter  of  the  Marcio- 
nites ' ;  yet  they  are  one  in  the  courage  and  loyalty 
of  their  faith.  A  slave  girl,  Sabina,  in  her  terror  at 
the  threats  of  a  punishment  worse  than  death,  was 
clinging  to  Pionius.  '  Look/  cried  a  wit,  '  the  babe 
is  afraid  she  is  going  to  be  robbed  of  her  mother's 
milk.'  Others  handled  the  ropes,  and  asked  ironi- 
cally :  '  And  what  are  these  for  ? '  Said  the  con- 
tractor for  the  public  games  to  the  martyr  Asclepiades, 
'  I  am  going  to  ask  for  you  to  fight  in  my  son's 
exhibition  of  gladiators  ' ;  while  a  police  officer  gave 

names.  But  in  the  transcription  three  names  have  dropped  out. 
Possibly,  however,  as  Hirschfeld  suggests  (o.e.  385  f.),  the  number 
was  really  less,  inasmuch  as  some  of  the  names  treated  as  separate 
individuals  are  probably  the  double  designation  (e.g.  Vettius  Epaga- 
thus  in  Greg.  Tours  I.e.,  Migne  PL  Ixxi  751)  of  the  same. 

1  For  the  Acts  of  Pionius,  "  a  most  veracious  narrative "  (Lightf. 
Ign.  i  639),  in  the  original  Greek  see  Geb.  AMS  96  ff.  The  early  Latin 
translation  in  Ruinart  AM  140  ff.  is  abridged  and  inaccurate.  All 
references  to  heretics  as  martyrs,  &c.,  are  left  out,  e.g.  infra.  A  much 
better  Latin  translation  is  that  in  A.SS  Feb.  1.  The  date  is  incorrectly 
given  in  Euseb.  HE  iv  15  fin.  as  a  century  too  early.  He  mistook 
the  meaning  of  the  statement  that  Pionius  was  '  celebrating  the 
birthday  of  Polycarp.'  It  should  really  be  March  12,  250.  See 
Lightf.  Ign.  i  641,  715  flf. ;  Harnack  CAL  ii  467.  The  Acts  are  not  in 
Euseb.  HE,  as  he  had  incorporated  them  in  his  lost  work  on  the 
Ancient  Martyrs. 


298        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

Pionius  a  knock  on  the  head  so  violent  that  the  blood 
ran.  All  this  was  but  preliminary  to  the  clawings 
and  burnings  with  which  the  festival  concluded. 

Apart  altogether  from  mob  rule,  the  Christian 
was  at  all  times  exposed  to  dangers,  not  the  less 
formidable  because  legal.  We  have  an  illustration 
of  these  dangers  in  the  case  of  Julitta,1  a  wealthy 
widow  of  Caesarea,  in  Cappadocia,  who  brought  an 
action  to  recover  some  property  of  which  she  had 
been  wrongfully  dispossessed.  The  rogue  pleaded 
that  the  widow  was  a  Christian,  and  therefore  not 
entitled  to  seek  legal  redress.  The  case  actually 
ended  in  the  burning  of  Julitta.  Truly  might  it  have 
been  said  of  the  early  believers:  'In  the  midst  of 
life  we  are  in  death.1 


II 

What  shall  we  say  of  the  punishments  and  of  the 
tortures  which  formed  part  of  the  judicial  processes 
by  which  evidence  was  sought  to  be  extracted  from 
the  Christians?2  Koman  citizens  as  a  rule  were 
sent  to  the  capital;  for  them  there  was  the  long 

1  Basil  Horn.  5  in  AM  515.    Basil  gives  no  date.    Perhaps  time 
of  Diocletian.    Another  similar  case  is  that  of  Claudius  and  his 
mother-in-law  (AM  266,  where  the  date  285  should  rather  be  Aug. 
23,  304 ;  Harnack  CAL  ii  475).     The  action  against  Parthenius  and 
Calocerus  (supra  p.  246)  of  wasting  the  fortune  of  Anatolia  of  whom 
they  had  been  left  trustees  ended  in  their  being  burnt  at  Rome  as 
Christians  (Aubd  EE  60-1,  Gregg  DP  106). 

2  That  tortures  were  judicial  processes  see  Conybeare  NEC  280-2, 
and  of.  Pliny's  letter,  supra  p.  210. 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED      299 

misery  of  the  journey  in  company  with  brutal  guards.1 
Finally,  as  an  act  of  special  '  benevolence/  they  were 
handed  over,  as  St.  Paul,  to  the  headsman  ;  2  though 
the  law  in  this  matter  was  not  strictly  observed.3 
Inasmuch  as  they  Were  often  charged  with  majestas, 
their  citizenship  did  not  always  save  them  from  the 
tortures,  endless  in  the  variety  and  ingenuity  of  their 
cruelty,  which  for  non-citizens  were  almost  inevitable. 
In  the  later  martyrologies  there  is  a  manifest 
tendency  to  pile  up  the  horrors.  But  if  we  confine 
ourselves  to  strictly  historical  cases,  the  savagery, 
though  to  a  large  extent  a  part  of  the  ordinary 
iudicial  processes  of  the  age,  is  appalling.  Some, 
suffering  the  punishment  of  parricides,  were  shut  up 
in  a  sack  with  snakes  and  thrown  into  the  sea ; 
others  were  tied  to  huge  stones  and  cast  into  a  river. 
For  Christians  the  cross  itself  was  not  deemed  suf- 
ficient agony ;  hanging  on  the  tree,  they  were  beaten 
with  rods  until  their  bowels  gushed  out,  while  vinegar 
and  salt  were  rubbed  into  their  wounds.  In  the 
Thebais,  during  the  persecution  of  Diocletian,  Chris- 
tians were  tied  to  catapults,  and  so  wrenched  limb 
from  limb.  Some,  like  Ignatius,  were  thrown  to  the 
beasts;  others  tied  to  their  horns.  Women  were 
stripped,  enclosed  in  nets,  and  exposed  to  the  attacks 
of  furious  bulls.  Many  were  *  made  to  lie  on  sharp 
shells,'  and  tortured  with  scrapers,  claws,  and  pincers, 


1  Cf.  infra  p.  336. 

2  Supra  pp.  41,  64  n.    In  the  case  of  Apolloniua  the  magistrates 
dwell  011  the  '  beuevolcnce,'  M EC  48.     See  supra  p.  218  n. 

8  Infra  p.  318  n.  1  (case  of  Pcrpi'tua). 


300        PEKSECUTION  IN  THE   EAKLY  CHUBCH 

before  being  delivered  to  the  mercy  of  the  flames. 
Not  a  few  were  broken  on  the  wheel,  or  torn  in  pieces 
by  wild  horses.  Of  some  the  feet  were  slowly  burned 
away,  cold  water  being  poured  over  them  the  while  lest 
the  victims  should  expire  too  rapidly.  Peter,  one  of 
the  servants  of  Diocletian,  was  scourged  to  the  bone, 
then  placed  near  a  gridiron  that  he  might  witness  the 
roasting  of  pieces  torn  from  his  own  body.  At  Lyons 
they  tried  to  overcome  the  obstinacy  of  Sanctus  of 
Vienne  '  by  fixing  red-hot  plates  of  brass  to  the  most 
delicate  parts  of  his  body.'  After  this  he  was  slowly 
roasted  in  the  iron  chair.  Down  the  backs  of  others 
'  melted  lead,  hissing  and  bubbling,  was  poured ' ; 
while  a  few,  '  by  the  clemency  of  the  emperor,' 
escaped  with  the  searing  out  of  their  eyes,  or  the 
tearing  off  of  their  legs.  These  instances1 — but  a 
few  out  of  a  long  catalogue  that  might  be  compiled — 
will  show  what  it  cost  to  witness  the  good  confession ; 
to  say  nothing  of  the  rack,  the  hobby-horse  the  claws, 
and  other  tortures  preparatory  to  the  sentence. 

Fortunate  were  those  for  whom  there  was  the 
relief  of  death.  Some  were  banished  to  the  mines  of 
'deadly  Sardinia,'  and  there,  with  fetters  on  their 
limbs,  insufficient  food,  almost  naked,  beaten  with 
clubs  by  savage  overseers,2  passed  a  life  of  ceaseless 
toil  amid  surroundings  of  indescribable  filth.  Others 
were  denied  even  the  refuge  of  the  mines,  and  were 

1  For  these  horrors  see  Euseb.  HE  iv  15,  v  1,  viii  6,  8,  9,  10,  12 ; 
HP  5,  6 ;  Mart.  Polyc.  2  ;  Lact.  MP  21 ;   Conybeare  MEG  213,  295, 
as  a  few  out  of  many  passages  that  might  be  quoted. 

2  Supra  p.  240  (Pontian  and  Hippolytus).    For  life  in  the  mines 
see  Cyprian  Epp.  77,  78.    Neumann  RSK  215  n. 


THE  EXPEKIENCES  OF  THE   PERSECUTED      301 

dragged  about  from  town  to  town  in  the  train  of  the 
governor,  and  exhibited  for  the  sport  of  the  people.1 

For  women  there  were  punishments  worse  than 
death,  the  least  of  which  was  their  exposure  almost 
naked  in  the  arena.  Perpetua  was  not  alone  in  the 
horror  she  felt  when  she  dreamed  that  '  she  was 
stripped,  turned  into  the  arena,  and  rubbed  down  with 
oil  as  they  do  for  the  games.' 2  In  the  great  persecu- 
tion under  Diocletian  in  the  Thebais,  if  we  may  trust 
Eusebius,  women  were  tied  to  trees  by  one  foot  and 
there  left  to  perish,  hanging  downwards,  stark  naked, 
They  were  more  fortunate  than  some  of  their  sisters, 
many  of  whom  were  dragged  to  the  brothels  to  suffer 
shame  before  being  led  to  the  stake  or  cast  to  the 
lions.  '  Either  sacrifice  to  the  gods  or  be  handed  over 
to  infamy  '  was  the  awful  dilemma  which  confronted 
more  than  one  Christian  maiden.  The  danger  was 
real,  for  the  Eoman  mob  had  twisted  a  regulation, 
originally  framed  in  the  interests  of  humanity,  into 
the  occasion  of  bestial  cruelty.3  'Christians  to  the 

1  Tarachus  and  his  companions  ;  AM  434  ff.    Cf.  AM  162  if.,  542. 
See  infra  p.  330-1. 

2  Robinson   o.c.   76;    Geb.    AMS   77.      By  Roman  law  women 
were  not  allowed  to  be  executed  absolutely  nude.     The  law  in  the 
case  of  Christians  was  generally  evaded  by  giving  them  a  mere 
cincture,  in  the  case  of  Theonilla  of  Sebastia  a  girdle  of  wild  briars 
Cf.  Thekla  in  Conybeare  MEG  81 ;   Ada  Thek.  c  38  (Lipsius  AAA  i 
260  J  AM  269 ;  Euseb.  HE  viii  9  ;  and  cf,  John  xxi  18,  'another  shall 
gird  thee.'     Le  Blant  SAMi  248,  quotes  the  case  of  an  executioner 
who  was  burned  to  death  because  he  refused  this  cincture  (from 
Amm.  Marcellin,  xxviii  1). 

3  Tac.  Ann.  v  5,  '  triumvirali  supplicio  adfici  virginem  inauditum 
habebatur;   a  carnifice  laqueum  juxta  compressam,'   narrating  the 
treatment  of  the  daughters  of  Sejanus  by  the  mob.    Suet.  Tib.  61, 


302        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

panthers,  virgins  to  the  pandars,'  was  no  mere  jest, 
but  part  of  the  cost  that  must  be  paid  '  for  Christ's 
sake.'  In  the  romances  of  the  early  mediaeval  Church 
the  chastity  of  these  maidens  is  always  miraculously 
preserved  amidst  the  most  unholy  surroundings ;  but 
probably  the  actual  facts  were  often  otherwise.  They 
paid  a  price  dearer  than  life  rather  than  deny  their 
Lord.  Said  Theodora  of  Alexandria  when  the  judge 
read  to  her  the  brutal  order :  '  If  you  force  me  to  do 
this,  I  do  not  think  that  God  will  count  it  a  sin.' l 
Some  sought  escape  in  the  destruction  of  their  beauty, 
or  even  in  suicide.2  Potamiaena  of  Alexandria, 
whose  beauty  was  noted,  was  told  that  unless  she 
recanted  she  should  be  given  over  to  the  lust  of 
gladiators.  She  escaped  by  a  defiance  so  daring  that 
the  judge  in  his  anger  '  ordered  boiling  pitch  to  be 
poured  over  her  limbs,  gradually  working  up  from  the 

states  that  this  was  the  general  custom.  This  seems  to  me  very 
doubtful,  though  not  without  value,  when  remembering  the  danger 
of  Christian  women. 

1  AM  397 ;  and  cf.  Ambrose  de  Virg.  ii  c  4,  who  relates  the  same 
story  with  differences.     The  story  is  in  the  main  a  romance,  with 
some  kernel  of  truth.     Theodora  was  delivered  by  the  Christian 
Didymus,  who  pushed  his  way  in  and  insisted  on  the  *  dove  of  God ' 
taking  his  long  soldier's  cloak.    '  ilang  your  head  down,'  he  said> 
*  and  speak  to  no  one.*    One  of  the  earliest  of  these  romances  is  that 
of  a  maiden  of  Corinth  and  a  certain  '  Magisterianus '  (Palladius, 
HL  148, 149 ;  HP  53  in  Migne  PL  Ixxiii  1213,  Ixxiv  336),  from  a  lost 
work  of  Hippolytus.    Hero  also  there  is  a  simple  change  of  clothes*. 
(N.B.  'Magisterianus'  is  not,  as  is  usually  taken,  a  proper  name,  but 
the  name  of  an  officer  of  the  court.     See  Du  Cange  «.??.)    For  other 
similar  romances  cf .  Prudent.  Perideph.  14  (Agnes ;  certainly  a  myth 
arising  from  misunderstanding  of  Ambrose  de  virg.  i  2) ;  the  incident 
of  Drusiaua  in  the  Acts  of  John  c.  63  ff.  (Lipsius  AAA  i  (2)  181). 

2  Ambrose  o.o.  iii  6  ;  Euseb.  HE  viii  14. 


THE  EXPEEIENCE8  OF  THE  PERSECUTED      303 

feet  to  the  crown  of  the  head.'  '  For  three  hours  she 
suffered  agonies,  until  the  pitch  reached  her  neck.' x 
Such  horrors,  no  doubt,  were  exceptional,  and  limited 
to  the  frenzied  East.  But  the  untold  heroism  of 
women,  not  a  few,  should  not  altogether  be  forgotten 
in  these  latter  days.2 


Ill 

The  question  is  sometimes  asked,  not  merely  from 
motives  of  curiosity  :  What  was  the  experience  of  the 
martyr  as  he  thus  passed  through  his  great  renunci- 
ation? The  materials  for  answering  the  question 
are  abundant,  and  the  answer  has  a  spiritual  value 
of  its  own.  We  believe  it  can  be  shown  that  Christ 
alone  really  suffered  all  the  horror  of  His  martyrdom — 

'  Yea,  once  Immanuel's  orphaned  cry  His  universe  hath  shaken, 
It  went  up  single,  echoless,  "  My  God,  I  am  forsaken."  ' 

Thus  Christ  alone  tasted  death,  drained  the  cup  of 
its  bitters  to  the  dregs.  For  others  there  was  a  grace 
of  God  which  dulled  the  pain,  turning  agony  into 

1  AM  121 ;    Euseb.  HE  vi  5,  who  dates  in  the  persecution  of 
Severus  (supra  p.  236) ;  Palladius  dates  a  century  later.      But  his 
account — written  thirty  years  after  the  time  he  says  he  heard  it,  on 
his  visit  to  Alexandria,  from  Isidore  the  hospitaller,  who  had  heard 
it  from  the  famous  Anthony — differs  considerably  from  Eusebius, 
and  seems  to  me  less  historical  (see  Palladius  Heraclidis  Paradisus 
1  in  Migne   PL  Ixxiv  254,  or  EL  3  in  Migne  PL  Ixxiii   1094). 
This  is  a  good  instance  of  how  the  tales  of  the  martyrs  were  handed 
on  and  altered  in  the  process. 

2  See  Appendix  H. 


304        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

victory.  When  the  great  day  came,  and  they  passed 
into  the  furnace,  lo !  there  was  One  standing  beside 
them,  like  unto  the  Son  of  Man,  and  so  *  they  found 
the  fire  of  their  inhuman  torturers  cold.'1 

We  believe  that  Browning  is  right  when  in  his 
Epitaph  in  the  Catacombs  he  lays  stress  upon  the 
absence  of  all  remembrance  of  time  in  the  sufferer. 
But  remembrance  of  time  is  the  measure  of  the 
consciousness  of  pain : 

*  I  was  some  time  in  being  burned, 
But  at  the  close  a  Hand  came  through 
The  fire  above  my  head,  and  drew 
My  soul  to  Christ,  whom  now  I  see. 
Sergius,  a  brother,  writes  for  me 
This  testimony  on  the  wall — 
For  me,  I  have  forgot  it  all.' 

When  Mr.  Fearing  came  to  the  river,  Bunyan  saw 
that  the  waters  were  so  low  that  he  passed  over 
almost  dry  shod.  The  early  Church  was  not  without  its 
Mr.  Fearing,  and  Mr.  Despondency's  daughter  Much- 
Afraid  ;  timid  souls,  who  dreaded  that  when  the 
trial  came  they  would  be  found  wanting.  But  when 
they  passed  through  the  dark  valley  He  was  there, 
and  their  fear  left  them.  *  Sufferings  borne  for  the 
Name  are  not  torments,'  said  the  martyr  Maximus  of 
Ephesus,  as  they  stretched  him  on  the  hobby-horse, 
'  but  soothing  ointments.' 2  '  0  blessed  martyrs/  cries 
Tertullian, 

1  Mart.  Polycarp  2.    Cf.  AM  431  for  an  actual  retort  by  a  martyr, 
Probus,  to  this  effect. 

2  AM  157  or  Geb.  AM8  122,  May  14,  250.     See  Harnack  CAL  ii 
69  n.,  Gregg  DP  236. 


THE   EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED     305 

*  you  have  gone  out  of  prison,  rather  than  into  one.  .  .  .  Your 
dungeon  is  full  of  darkness,  but  ye  yourselves  are  light ;  it  has 
bonds,  but  God  has  made  you  free.' l 

The  absence  of  all  fear,  in  fact,  is  one  of  the  notes 
of  the  early  Church.  Cyprian  was  right  when  he 
speaks  of  '  the  white-rohed  cohort  of  Christ's  soldiers ' 
as  '  passing  through  footprints  of  glory  to  the  embrace 
and  kiss  of  Christ.' 2  Theirs  was  a  triumphal  march 
along  a  greater  Sacred  Way  than  Roman  conquerors 
ever  trod.  '  These  are  not  chains/  exclaims  Cyprian, 

'  they  are  ornaments.  O  fettered  feet  of  the  blessed  ones  treading 
the  path  to  Paradise !  You  have  no  bed,  no  place  of  rest  in  the 
mines ;  your  wearied  limbs  are  stretched  on  the  cold  earth ;  naked, 
there  are  no  clothes  to  cover  you;  hungry,  no  bread  to  feed  you. 
But  what  a  glory  lights  up  this  your  shame  1 ' 3 

The  cause  was  not  far  to  seek  ;  *  The  Holy  Ghost  has 
entered  the  prison  with  you,'4  the  Lord  Jesus  was 
suffering  in  them  and  with  them ;  and  so  a  secret 
spell  preserved  them  in  their  living  death. 

No  tale  of  early  centuries  is  more  familiar  than 
the  story  of  the  passion  of  Polycarp5 — the  most 

1  Ad  Mart.  2.    The  whole  chapter  is  worth  reading.  *Cf.  also  in 
the  same  strain  Cyprian  Epp.  xxxvii,  Ixxx  (1). 

2  De  Lapsis  2  and  Ep.  xxxvii. 

*  Cyprian  Ep.  Ixxvi  2  abbreviated. 

4  Tertullian  ad  Mart.  1,  on  which  Montanist  expression  see  Sohm 
Kirchemecht  i  32  n.  9.     In  later  days  these  spiritual  truths  become 
legends  of  angels  filling  dungeons  with  flowers,  &o.,  e.g.  Vincent  of 
Saragossa  (AM  370 ;  but  the  main  part  is  historical,  see  Prudentius 
Peristeph.  v,  time  of  Diocletian,  perhaps  Jan  22,  304). 

5  The  narrative  of  Polycarp's  passion  is  contained  in  a  letter 
(Martyrium  Polycarpi)  written  immediately  after  the  event  by  the 
Church  at  Smyrna  to  the  Christians  at  Philomelium.     For  this 
letter  the  student  should  consult  the  masterly  study  in  Lightf. 

X 


306        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

ancient  example  known  of  "  Acts  of  Martyrdom." 
On  his  way  to  his  own  passion  in  Eome  Ignatius  had 
exhorted  the  young  bishop,  of  whose  early  life  we 
know  little  save  his  intimacy  with  St.  John,1  'to 
stand  firm  as  an  anvil  when  it  is  smitten.  A  great 
athlete  should  receive  hlows  and  conquer.' 2  Nearly 

Ign.  i  578-645,  Renan  EG  c.  23.  A  good  text  is  in  Gebliardt 
AMS  1  if.  or  Hcirmer's  Apost.  Fathers  with  translation.  The  letter 
was  copied  by  Euseb.  HE  iv  15,  from  whom  the  version  in  Foxe,  &c., 
was  derived.  To  an  incorrect  interpretation  of  Euseb.  Chron.  we  owe 
the  wron#  date  of  167  or  169.  From  the  inscriptions  of  the  letter, 
Waddington  (Pastes  des  Provinces  Asiatiques,  Paris,  1872 — "  a  masterly 
piece  of  critical  work  "),  followed  by  Lightfoot  (Ign.  i  646-722;,  Renan 
EC  452  n.,and  C.  H.  Turner  (Studia  Biblica  ii  105-155)  demonstrated 
that  the  correct  date  is  either  Feb.  23,  155,  or,  less  likely,  Feb.  22, 
156  (Lightf.  Ign.  i  727).  Such  a  date  brings  Polycarp  much  more 
into  touch  with  St.  John  than  167,  and  is  a  most  valuable  result 
of  modern  criticism.  Dr.  Salmon  (Acad.  July  21,  1883;  see  also 
DCB  iv  430)  urged  that  the  day  should  not  be  Feb.  23rd,  the 
traditional  day  among  the  Greeks,  which  also  corresponds  to  '  the 
second  of  the  beginning  of  the  month  Xanthicus '  in  the  Ephesian 
calendar  (see  Mart.  Polyc.  21  and  Lightfoot  Ign.  i  678  if.),  but  March 
23rd.  His  argument  is  highly  technical,  and  depends  on  the  date  of 
the  substitution  at  Smyrna  of  the  solar  for  the  lunar  calendar.  Light- 
foot  (Ign.  i  691-702)  treats  the  argument  with  great  respect,  as  offering 
an  adequate  solution  of  '  the  great  sabbath '  (see  infra) ;  but  points 
out  that  the  Asiatic  calendar  was  changed  in  B.C.  8.  In  the  Roman 
calendar  Polycarp's  day  is  not  Feb.  23,  but  Jan.  26.  At  the  late 
date  when  his  cult  was  introduced  to  the  West,  Feb.  23  was 
already  occupied  by  a  local  Roman  Polycarp,  a  companion  of  St. 
Sebastian,  martyred  at  Rome  under  Diocletian  (see  AM  50  n.). 
Jan.  26  or  27  was  the  festival  of  a  Polycnrp  of  Nicaea,  who  was  thus 
displaced  to  make  way  for  Polycarp  of  Smyrna.  See  Lightfoot  Ign. 
i  709,  Harnack  GAL  i  334  if. 

1  Iron.  Haer.  iii  3  (quoted  also  in  Euseb.  HE  iv  14).    In  1881 
Duchesne  first  published  from  a  tenth-century  MS.  a  valueless  Vita 
Polycarpi,  with  full  details  of  his  childhood,  a  slave,  &c.    It  will  be 
found  in  Lightf.  Ign.  iii  423  ff. 

2  Ign.  Polyc.  3. 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED   307 

half  a  century  later  the  '  athlete  '  received  his  crown, 
a  few  months  only  after  his  return  from  a  journey 
which,  in  the  interests  of  ecclesiastical  unity,  the  old 
man  had  found  it  necessary  to  make  to  Kome.1 

The  annual  festival  of  Caesar  was  in  progress  at 
Smyrna.  As  was  usually  the  case,  the  occasion  was 
turned  to  profit  by  the  enemies  of  Christ.  Eleven 
martyrs,  mostly  from  Philadelphia,  had  already 
fought  with  heasts.  One  of  them,  Germanicus  by 
name,  when  exhorted  by  the  proconsul  '  to  have  pity 
on  his  youth,'  dragged  the  beast  to  him  that  he 
might  the  quicker  perish.  The  cry  arose :  '  Away 
with  the  Atheists ;  let  search  be  made  for  Polycarp.' 
By  the  torture  of  a  slave  the  aged  bishop's  hiding- 
place  was  found.  Mounted  police  were  despatched ; 
late  at  night  they  burst  into  the  upper  room  of  a 
small  cottage.  'God's  will  be  done,'  said  Polycarp, 
and  requested  a  short  time  for  prayer.  This  was 
granted ;  the  police  were  busy  at  the  supper  which 
the  saint  provided  for  them,  and  in  nowise  anxious  to 
journey  back  in  the  dark.  For  two  hours  he  stood  in 
intercession  '  for  the  Catholic  Church ' ;  then  as  morn- 
ing was  breaking  set  off  to  the  city,  riding  on  an  ass. 

1  See  Iren.  Haer.  iii  3  (Euseb,  HE  iv  14).  The  visit  was  in 
connexion  with  the  Quartodeciman  controversy,  on  which  see  Drum- 
mond  FG  444  ff.  The  date  is  '  the  episcopate  of  Anicetus.'  Accord- 
ing to  Duchesne  LP  i  134,  Anicetus  was  a  'Syrian  from  Emesa' — 
hence,  probably,  Polycarp's  belief  that  he  could  influence  an  Eastern 
— who  was  bishop  of  Rome  from  150-153.  (There  is  a  gap  here  in  the 
LP,  Liberian  Cat.,  which  makes  the  chronology  difficult.  See  on 
the  date  Renan  IS  Ant.  566  ff.,  Lightf.  Ign.  450.)  This  journey  seems 
to  me  to  make  Zahn's  view  of  the  age  of  Polycarp  (86,  see  tw/ra, 
+  ?  15,  for  age  at  conversion)  impossible  (Harnack  CAL  i  344  n.). 


308        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY   CHURCH 

The  captain  of  the  police,  one  Herod  by  name,  together 
with  his  father  Nicetes,  met  him  on  the  way,  and 
took  him  into  their  chariot,  endeavouring  to  persuade 
him  to  recant  and  say :  '  Caesar  is  Lord.'  Their 
interest  was  not  merely  that  of  officials;  perhaps 
Herod  was  thinking  of  the  peril  of  his  own  sister 
Alee,  one  of  Polycarp's  flock.  But  all  their  efforts 
were  vain ;  so,  on  Polycarp's  repeated  refusal,  they 
thrust  him  out  of  the  chariot  with  such  violence  that 
'  he  bruised  his  shin.'  On  his  entrance  into  the 
arena,  '  our  people  who  were  present  heard  a  voice, 
though  no  man  saw  the  speaker  :  Polycarp,  be  strong, 
and  play  the  man.'  '  Swear,'  said  the  proconsul,  '  by 
the  genius  of  Caesar ;  retract  and  say,  Away  with  the 
atheists.'  The  old  man  gazed  in  sorrow  at  the  raging 
crowd;  then  with  uplifted  eyes,  waving  his  hand,  he 
said:  'Away  with  the  atheists.'  The  proconsul, 
Titus  Statius  Quadratus,  mistaking  Polycarp's  mean- 
ing, pressed  him  further :  '  Swear,  and  I  release  thee ; 
blaspheme  Christ.'  '  Eighty  and  six  years,'  was  the 
immortal  reply,  '  have  I  served  Christ,  and  He  has 
never  done  me  wrong.  How  can  I  blaspheme  my 
King,  who  saved  me  ? '  After  further  entreaties,  the 
proconsul  threatened  to  throw  him  to  the  beasts  or 
burn  him  alive.  '  'Tis  well,'  replied  Polycarp ;  '  I  fear 
not  the  fire  that  burns  for  a  season  and  after  a  while 
is  quenched.  Why  delayest  thou  ?  Come,  do  what 
thou  wilt.'  So  the  herald  thrice  proclaimed,  '  Poly- 
carp has  confessed  himself  a  Christian.'  A  howl  of 
vengeance  rose  from  the  heathen,  in  which  the  Jews, 
who  were  present  in  large  numbers,  joined — it  was 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED     309 

'  a  great  sabbath,'  probably  the  feast  of  Purim,1  and 
their  fanaticism  was  specially  excited.  '  This/  they 
cried,  '  is  the  teacher  of  Asia,  the  overthrower  of  our 
gods,  who  has  perverted  so  many  from  sacrifice  and 
adoration.'  So  they  desired  the  Asiarch,  one  Gams 
Julius  Philippus  of  Trales,2  as  inscriptions  show,  to 
let  loose  upon  him  a  lion.  The  Asiarch  excused 
himself ;  the  games  in  honour  of  Caesar  were  over ; 
he  had  exhausted  his  stock  of  beasts. 

'So  the  mob  with  one  accord  lifted  up  its  voice,  clamouring  that 
he  should  be  burnt  alive.  The  execution  followed  close  upon  the 
sentence.  The  wood  for  the  stake,  toin  in  an  instant  from  shops  and 
baths,  was  carried  to  the  fatal  spot  by  eager  hands,  the  Jews  as  usual 
freely  offering  their  services.' 

The  old  man  was  stripped.    But 

'As  they  were  going  to  nail  him  to  the  stake :  "  Leave  me,"  he  said, 
"  as  I  am,  for  He  that  hath  granted  me  to  endure  the  fire  will  grant 
me  also  to  endure  the  pile  unmoved,  even  without  the  security  that  ye 
seek  from  the  nails."  So  they  did  not  nail  him,  but  tied  him.' 

Then  he  offered  his  last  prayer : — 

'O  Lord  God  Almighty,  the  Father  of  Thy  well -beloved  and  ever- 
blessed  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  we  have  received  the  knowledge 
of  Thee,  ...  I  thank  Thee  that  Thou  hast  graciously  thought  me 
worthy  of  this  day  and  of  this  hour,  that  I  may  receive  a  portion 
among  the  number  of  the  martyrs,  in  the  cup  of  Thy  Christ.' 

No  sooner  had  he  uttered  his  Amen,  than  the  fire  was 
kindled  and  blazed  up.  But  it  arose,  curving  like  an 

1  See  Lightfoot  Ign.  i  711-7  and  727  (where  he  discusses   the 
objections  of  Turner) ;  and  for  the  hatred  of  the  Jews,  supra  119. 

2  See  an  interesting  note  in  Lightfoot  Ign.  i  628-37  for  thia  Philip 
in  inscriptions.    Apart  from  the  monuments  and  this  letter,  nothing 
is  known  about  him.     For  asiarchs  see  supra,  p.  96  n. 


310        PERSECUTION  IN   THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

arch  or  the  bellying  sail  of  a  ship,  leaving  him  in  the 
centre  like  a  treasure  of  gold  or  silver,  unharmed. 
The  student  will  remember  the  similar  cases  of 
Savonarola  and  Hooper  of  Gloucester.1  An  execu- 
tioner was  sent  to  give  the  coup  de  grace.  To  the 
amazement  of  the  spectators,  blood  flowed  in  streams 
from  the  aged  body  and  extinguished  the  flames.2  In 
their  fear  lest  the  body  should  fall  into  the  hands  of 
the  Christians,  the  Jews  took  steps,  using  Nicetes  as 
their  leader,  to  have  it  thrust  back  into  the  midst  of 
the  fire.  At  the  moment  of  Polycarp's  death,  his  pupil 
Irenaeus,  then  on  a  visit  to  Eome,  heard  a  voice  as 
of  a  trumpet  saying,  *  Poly  carp  has  been  martyred.' 3 
By  his  death  '  Polycarp  stayed  the  persecution, 
having,  as  it  were,  set  his  seal  upon  it.'  The  annual 
festival  of  Caesar  was  over,  and  the  excited  mob 
returned  to  their  homes. 

"  The  martyrdom  of  Cyprian,"  writes  Gibbon, 
"  will  convey  the  clearest  information  of  the  spirit 
and  of  the  forms  of  Roman  persecution."  4  We  may 

1  Villari  Savonarola  (ed.  1896)  759 ;  Foxe,  Ed.  Pratt  vi  658. 

2  Milrnan   Christianity  ii  140  well  compares  Macbeth  v  i,  "  Who 
would  have  thought  the  old  man  to  have  had  so  much  blood  in  him  ?  " 
The  reader  may  be  interested  to  note  the  rise  of  a  myth.    For  irepl 
ffrepva,  "  round  the  chest,"  or  irepl  ffTvpaita,  "  about  the  sword-haft," 
or  eV  apio-repa,  the  MSB.   read  TreptVrepa,  "a   dove."     Hence  the 
tale,  which  figures  much  in  later  legends,  of  the  dove  which  came 
out  of  Polycarp's   dead  body.     The  incident   is  not  in  Eusebius. 
Lightfoot  (Ign.  iii  390-3,  i  644  n.)  rejects  these  explanations,  and 
considers  the  myth  a  deliberate  addition. 

3  Mart.  Polyc.  22  in  the  Moscow  MS.     See  Lightfoot  Ign.  ii  986. 
Renan  EG  462  n.     For  similar  voices  and  clairvoyance,  Lightfoot 
refers  to  the  Proceeding*  Psychical  Itesearch  Society,  April,  1883. 

4  Ed.  Bury  ii  100.     For  the  accurate  way  in  which  these  Acts  of 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED      311 

add  that  few  of  the  Acts  keep  more  close  to  the 
original  official  records.  During  the  severe  persecu- 
tion of  Decius,  Cyprian,  at  that  time  undoubtedly  the 
most  distinguished  prelate  of  Western  Christendom, 
had  yielded  to  counsels  of  prudence  and  withdrawn 
for  a  while  from  Carthage  (Jan.  250).  In  the  spring 
of  251  he  had  returned,  and  had  distinguished  him- 
self by  the  zeal  with  which  he  had  flung  himself  into 
the  work  of  visiting  the  plague-stricken  city  (A.D.  252). 
Under  his  lead,  Christians  "just  emerged  from  the 
mines  or  the  prison,  with  the  scars  or  the  mutilations 
of  recent  tortures  upon  their  bodies,  were  seen  ex- 
posing their  limbs,  if  possible,  to  a  more  honourable 
martyrdom."  l  But  such  works  of  charity  did  not 
lessen  the  hostility  of  the  heathen,  who  looked  upon 
the  plague  as  the  chastisement  of  the  gods  for  their 
toleration  of  an  unnatural  religion.2  On  the  renewal 
of  the  persecution  by  Valerian  (257),  Cyprian,  who  did 
not  this  time  withdraw  from  the  city,  was  summoned 
before  the  proconsul  Paternus,  and  ordered  to  return 
to  the  practice  of  the  religion  of  his  ancestors  (Aug.  30, 
257).  On  his  refusal  he  was  banished  to  Curubis, 
fifty  miles  from  Carthage,  though  after  a  while  he 
was  suffered  to  return  to  his  former  country  house. 
Shortly  after  the  accession  of  a  new  proconsul, 
Galerius  Maximus,  Cyprian  was  once  more  appre- 
hended, and  brought  to  Carthage.  He  was  lodged 

Cyprian  reproduce  the  technical  procedure  of  Roman  courts,  the 
student  should  read  Le  Blant  SAM  (see  his  Index). 

1  Milinan  Christianity  ii  195.  Benson  I.e.  541-5.  See  Cyprian's 
Le  Opere  et  Ele&iuotynis ;  Pontius  Vita  Gyp.  ix. 

*  Supra  p.  126  n.    Pont.  Vita  Cyp.  11. 


312        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHUKCH 

for  the  night  in  the  private  house  of  one  of  his 
gaolers,1  and  treated  with  respect  and  consideration. 
All  through  the  night  the  streets  were  filled  with 
a  vast  but  orderly  crowd  of  enemies  and  friends. 
In  the  morning  Cyprian,  whose  habitual  seriousness 
of  countenance  was  transfigured  with  joyfulness,  was 
brought  before  the  proconsul.  No  words  were  wasted. 
'Art  thou/  said  the  judge,  '  Thascius  Cyprian,  the 
bishop  (papa)  of  many  impious  men?  The  most 
sacred  emperors  command  thee  to  sacrifice.'  '  I  will 
not/  replied  the  bishop.  'Consider  well/  was  the 
answer.  '  Execute  your  orders/  replied  Cyprian ; 
'the  case  admits  of  no  consideration/  With  some 
reluctance  the  judge,  after  conferring  with  his  council, 
read  the  sentence : 

'That  Thascius  Cyprian  should  be  immediately  beheaded,  as  the 
enemy  of  the  gods  of  Rome,  and  as  the  standard-bearer  and  ring- 
leader of  a  criminal  association  which  he  had  seduced  into  an  impious 
resistance  against  the  laws  of  the  most  holy  emperors,  Valerian  and 
Gallienus '  (Geb.  AM8  127). 

'God  be  thanked,'  answered  the  bishop,  when  the 
reading  of  the  sentence  was  finished.  '  We  will  die 
with  him/  shouted  the  Christians ;  but  Cyprian  was 
led  away  under  an  escort  of  the  famous  Third  Legion 
to  a  plain  near  the  city,  or  rather  a  natural  amphi- 
theatre with  steep,  high  slopes,  thick  with  trees, 
into  which  the  spectators  climbed.  There  his 
presbyters  and  deacons  were  allowed  to  assist  him 
in  laying  aside  his  garments.  With  his  usual 

1  Principes,  chief   centurions  attached    to  the  proconsul.     See 
Benson  I.e.  497  n.    Ada  proconsularia  2  in  Geb.  AMS  125. 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED     313 

indifference  to  money,  the  bishop  desired  his  friends 
to  hand  the  executioner  twenty-five  gold  pieces,  a 
fee  of  about  £15.  Meanwhile  his  friends  strewed 
the  ground  with  handkerchiefs,  with  a  view  to  future 
relics  and  mementoes.  This  done,  Cyprian  covered 
his  face  with  a  cloth  ;  the  sword  of  the  executioner 
flashed,  and  at  one  blow  the  head  was  severed  from 
the  body  (Sept.  14,  258)  .l 

Of  all  the  stones  of  martyrdom  in  early  times 
none  is  more  unexaggerated,  true  to  life  and  human 
nature,  than  the  story  of  the  two  Carthaginian 
martyrs,  Perpetua2  and  Felicitas,  who  appear  to 

1  For  the  death  of  Cyprian  see  Pontius  Vita  Cyp.  18.     Pontius 
who  was  with  him  at  his  death,  quotes  the  official  Ada  Proconsularia 
(Hartel  Op.  Cyp.  iii  (pt.  3)  pp.  ex  ff.,  or  Geb.  AMS  124-8). 

For  an  interesting  account  of  how  Cyprian's  day  in  England  came 
to  be  changed  to  Sept.  26th,  see  Benson  o.c.  App.  L.  It  became  dis- 
placed by  Holy  Cross  Day  (in  commemoration  of  Heraclius'  reputed 
recovery  of  the  Cross  in  628). 

2  For  the  passion  of  St.  Perpetua  the  best  edition  is  by  Dean 
Robinson  in  TS  (1891)  i.    A  good  edition  of  the  text,  both  Greek  and 
Latin,  is  in  Geb.  AMS  61  ff.     The  complete  Greek  text  was  found  by 
Rendel  Harris  in  a  convent  at  Jerusalem  in  1889.    The  text  in 
Ruinart  AM  is  infelicitous.     The  work,  as  Robinson  shows,  was 
probably  written  in  Latin,  and  not  in  Greek  as  was  the  judgement 
of  the  older  writers  (e.g.  Milman  Christianity  ii  165  n.).    But  the 
new  Latin  MS.  discovered  in  1892  (Anal.  Boll.,  1892,369  ff.)  somewhat 
weakens  the  argument. 

The  visions  of  Perpetua  were  widely  known  in  the  early  Church, 
e.g.  Acts  of  Polyeuctes  (Conybeare  MEC  128).  Rendel  Harris  TS  ii 
(1)  148-53,  gives  reasons  for  believing  that  the  famous  Codex  Bezae 
of  the  N.T.  was  a  Montanist  document  evidently  familiar  to  Perpetua, 
and  of  African  origin  (ib.  259  ff.).  Robinson  has  shown  that  the  visions 
were  dictated  by  the  martyrs  themselves  in  spite  of  indebtedness, 
to  the  Shepherd  of  Hernias  and  the  Apocalypse  of  St.  Peter  (o.c.  26-46). 
Milman's  conjecture  that  they  show  "suspicious  marks  of  Monta- 
"  in  the  editing  (Christianity  ii  165  n.)  is,  however,  correct,  and 


31-1        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

have  suffered  on  the  birthday  of  Geta,1  the  worthless 
son  of  Septimius  Severus.  Vibia  Perpetua — one  of 
the  few  saints  still  honoured  in  the  Anglican 
calendar2 — with  her  ecstatic  visions  and  her  un- 
conquerable faith,  is  in  very  deed  one  of  the  heroic 
figures  of  the  early  Church.  Of  good  family,  liberal 
education,  and  honourably  married,  Perpetua  tells 
her  own  story,  though  the  introduction  and  com- 
pletion are  by  another  hand,  possibly  Tertullian's. 
She  was  but  twenty-two  when  arrested  and  cast  into 
prison : 

*  I  was  terrified ;  never  before  had  I  experienced  such  awful  darkness. 
O  dreadful  day !  the  heat  overpowering  by  reason  of  the  crowd  of 

strengthens  the  case  for  the  editorship  of  Tertullian  (Robinson  o.c. 
43-58 ;  but  see  Harnack  GAL  ii  322).  For  an  English  translation 
of  the  passion  see  Clark  ANCL  xiii  27C  ff. 

1  O.c.  c.  7  Geb.  A  MS  74.    Geta  was  born  on  May  27,  and  Perpetua 
suffered  on  March  7.    Hence  the  *  birthday '  must  mean  the  anni- 
versary of  Geta's  adoption  as  Caesar.     In  the  Greek  version  (c.  1 
Geb.    AM8   61)    the    date    is  wrongly  assigned  to  Valerian  and 
Gallienus.     Robinson  (o.c.  25  n.)  mistaking  the  meaning  of  '  natale 
Getae '  assigned  to  Geta's  reign  (Feb.  4,  211-Feb.  27, 212,  i.e.  March  7, 
211).    But  in  c.  6  (Geb.  AMS  71)  we  see  that  Hilarian  was  not  yet 
fully  proconsul,  but  only  provisional  in  place  of  Miuucius  Timinianus, 
who  had  died  in  his  year  of  office  (Allard  II  HP  87  n.).    The  execu- 
tion was  therefore  anterior  to  Tert.  ad  Scap.  3,  in  which  Hilariau 
is  proconsul.    (See  Chronological  Table.) 

From  the  Greek  version  (c.  2  AMS  64)  we  see  that  the  place  was 
not  Carthage,  but  Thuburbo  major  or  minus.  See  Neumann  BSK  i  300. 

2  March  7.     Curious  to  say,  though  thus  honoured,  there  are 
no  churches  in  England  dedicated  to  her.    That  she  was  retained 
in  the  English  calendar  is  the  more  remarkable  inasmuch  as  no 
copy  of  her  passion  was  published  before  1663.     Hence  the  story  is 
not  in  Foxo.     I  may  add  that  Perpetua  is  thus  a  good  specimen  of 
the  value  of  tradition.    In  the  Roman  breviary  Perpetua  has  been 
displaced  by  Thomas  Aquinas.     See  Robinson  o.c.  15  u, 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED     315 

prisoners,  the  extortions  of  the  guard.  Above  all,  I  was  torn  with 
anxiety  for  my  babe.' 

Two  deacons,  Tertius  and  Pomponius,  obtained  her 
removal  for  some  hours  a  day  to  a  better  room  : 

*  There  I  sat  suckling  my  babe,  who  was  slowly  wasting  away. 
Nevertheless  the  prison  was  made  to  me  a  palace,  where  I  would 
rather  have  been  than  anywhere  else.' 

In  part  her  joy  was  due  to  her  visions.  In  one  of 
these  Perpetua  saw  a  ladder  of  gold,  the  top  of  which 
rested  in  heaven.  Beyond  the  highest  rung,  sur- 
rounded by  a  white-robed  throng,  stood  the  Good 
Shepherd  in  the  midst  of  a  wonderful  garden  like 
unto  Eden.  But  on  either  side  of  the  ladder  were 
instruments  of  torture,  while  a  terrible  dragon 
guarded  the  approach.  Up  this  ladder  of  gold,  so 
narrow  that  only  one  could  climb  at  a  time,  the 
saints  passed  to  God.  But  they  must  first  crush 
the  dragon's  head  ere  they  could  hear  the  welcome 
of  the  Shepherd :  "  Thou  hast  borne  thee  well, 
child."  1  For  Perpetua  the  '  crushing '  was  without 
hesitation.  When  brought  before  the  judge,  she  was 
ordered  to  sacrifice  to  the  emperor.  She  refused, 
and  was  condemned  with  her  comrades  to  fight  the 
beasts.  '  So  we  went  with  joy  to  our  prison.' 

We  must  not  forget  Felicitas.2    When  arrested 
with    Perpetua,   she  was  in  the   eighth  month  of 

1  'Bene  venisti  tegnon' — one  of  Perpetua's  many  Greek  words 
which  led  Milman  and  others  to  suppose  a  Greek  original ;  Robinson 
o.c.  68 ;  Geb.  AM8  68.     See  also  for  this  vision  Robinson  o.c.  19. 

2  Felicitas  is  described  (c.  2)  as  a  slave  (Geb.  AMti  64),  as  also 
was  Revocatus  her  brother. 


316        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHUECH 

pregnancy.  As  the  day  of  the  games  approached 
she  feared  above  all  lest  on  that  account  her  martyr- 
dom should  be  postponed.1  So  her  '  brother  martyrs 
prayed  with  united  groaning,'  and  her  travail  began. 

As  she  lay  in  her  agony  in  the  crowded  gaol  the  keeper  of  the 
stocks2  said  to  her,  'If  you  cannot  enduro  these  paius,  what  will 
you  do  when  you  are  thrown  to  the  beasts  ? '  *  I  suffer  now  alone,' 
she  replied,  'but  then  there  will  be  One  in  me  who  will  suffer 
for  me  because  I  shall  suffer  for  Him.' 3 

Perpetua  maintained  her  calmness  to  the  end. 
When  a  tribune,  who  had  the  popular  idea  that  the 
Christians  dealt  in  the  black  art,4  and  so  might 
escape  from  prison  by  their  enchantments,  dealt 
harshly  with  the  prisoners,  she  reminded  him  that 
since  they  were  to  fight  on  Caesar's  birthday  they 
ought  not  to  disgrace  Caesar  by  their  condition.  On 
their  last  night  they  joined  together  in  the  agape.5 
The  lovefeast  was  interrupted  by  people  whose 
curiosity  had  led  them  to  visit  the  prison,  that  they 
might  see  what  sort  of  victims  would  be  provided  on 
the  morrow.  'Mark  well  our  faces,'  said  Saturus, 
'  that  you  may  recognize  us  again  on  the  day  of 
judgement.' 6 

1  So  the  law  ordered ;  Ulpian  in  Dig.  xlviii  19,  3. 

2  Cataractariorum,  that  is,  either  the  men  who  looked  after  the 
portcullis  (classical)  or,  more  probably,  the  stocks  (see  Jer.  xx  2,  3  in 
LXX  for  this  use). 

3  Eobinson  84;  Geb.  AMS  85. 

4  Supra  p.  132. 

5  « Pridie  quoque  cum  illam  cenam  ultimain,  quam  liberam  vocant, 
quantum  in  ipsis  erat  non  cenam  liberam  sed  agapeu  cenareiit.' 
llobinsou  8G ;  Geb.  AMS  86.     Cf.  supra  p,  211  n. 

6  O.c.  c.  17.    '  In  die  illo.'    See  supra  p.  154.    How  the  idea  of  the 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE   PERSECUTED     317 

'When  the  day  of  victory  dawned,  the  Christians  marched  in 
procession  from  the  prison  to  the  arena  as  if  they  were  marching 
to  heaven,  with  joyous  countenances,  agitated  rather  by  gladness 
than  fear.  Perpetua  followed,  with  radiant  step,  as  became  the  bride 
of  Christ,  the  dear  one  of  God.' 1 

Attempts  were  made  to  force  them  to  put  on  certain 
dresses,  the  men  the  robes  of  those  devoted  to 
Saturn,2  the  women  of  Ceres.  They  refused,  and 
'  injustice  recognized  the  justice '  of  their  refusal. 
So  they  marched  to  death  in  their  own  garments, 
*  Perpetua  singing  Psalms,  for  she  was  now  treading 
down  the  Egyptian's  head.' 3  In  the  arena  Saturus 
was  exposed  on  a  slightly  raised  platform  to  the 
attack  of  a  bear.  As  the  beast  would  not  leave  its 
den,  he  was  handed  over  to  a  leopard,  who  with  one 
bite  covered  him  with  blood.  The  mob  called  out 
in  their  glee,  in  derision  of  the  Christian  rite  of 
baptism,  'That's  the  bath  that  brings  salvation.'4 
The  two  women,  one  of  them  scarce  recovered  from 
childbirth,  were  hung  up  in  nets,  lightly  clad,  to 

'day  of  judgement'  dominated  the  early  Church  is  evidenced  by 
Apoo.  i  10,  where  Kvpia^  y/jiepa  is  probably  not  Sunday,  but  the 
prophet's  vision  of  the  last  day. 

1  '  Lucido  incessu,  ut  matrona  Chriati,  ut  Dei  delicata,'  a  bold 
oratorical  flight  worthy  of  Terlnllian.     See  Robinson  o.c.  p.  87. 

2  Tert.  Apol.  9  may  throw  light  on  this :  '  Children  were  openly 
sacrificed  in  Africa  to  Saturn  as  late  as  the  proconsulship  of  Tiberius. 
.  .  .  And  even  now  that  sacred  crime  still  continues  to  be  done  in 
secret.'     Cf.  ib.  ad  Scorp.  7  near  end.    For  Ceres  see  Tert.  ad  Uxor.  6. 
For   martyrs   thus  to   be  clothed   was   not   so    unusual  as  Mi  1m an 
(Christianity  ii  172)  supposes.    See  Le  Blant  SAM  242  n. 

3  Infra  p.  322. 

4  '  Salvum  lotum?    Cf.  Tert.  Bapt.  c  16.    But  on  the  floor  of  a 
room  in  Brescia  it  can  only  mean,  as  perhaps  here,  '  wash  well' 
(Allard  IT  J7P  129  n.) 


318        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

be  gored  by  a  bull.1  When  Perpetua  was  tossed  her 
first  thought  was  of  her  shame,  as  she  tried  to  cover 
herself  with  her  torn  tunic.  '  She  then  clasped  up 
her  hair,  for  it  did  not  become  a  martyr  to  suffer 
with  dishevelled  locks,  lest  she  should  seem  to  be 
mourning  in  her  glory.'  This  done  she  raised  up 
Felicitas,  and  'the  cruelty  of  people  being  for  a 
while  appeased/  they  were  permitted  to  retire.2 
Perpetua  herself  seemed  in  a  trance.  '  When  are 
we  to  be  tossed  ? '  she  asked,  and  could  scarcely  be 
induced  to  believe  that  she  had  suffered,  in  spite 
of  the  marks  on  her  body.  Finally  the  two  heroines 
of  God  were  put  to  death  by  gladiators.  After 
exhorting  the  others  'to  stand  fast  in  the  faith  and 
love  one  another,'  Perpetua,  'first  stabbed  between 
the  bones  that  she  might  have  the  more  pain, 
guided  to  her  own  throat  the  uncertain  hand  of  the 
young  gladiator.'8  So  she  too  passed  over,  and  all 
the  trumpets  sounded  for  her  on  the  other  side. 


IV 

Not  the  least  part  of  the  agony  of  Perpetua, 
as  well  as  of  other  martyrs,  lay  in  the  frenzied 
entreaties  of  loved  ones,  oftentimes  brought  by  the 

1  As  Perpetua  was  one  of  the  honestiores,  noble,  this  was  illegal; 
see  supra  p.  64  n. 

2  We  are  told  she  retired  by  the  porta  Sanavivaria  (c.  20  Geb. 
AMS  91),  i.e.   the  gate  by  which  living,  as  distinct  from  dead, 
gladiators  (porta  Libitensis)  retired  from  the  amphitheatre. 

3  Probably  a  confector,  i.e.  one  who  gave  the  coup  de  grace  in  case 
the  beasts  did  their  work  imperfectly. 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED     319 

magistrates  into  the  hall  of  justice  for  the  very 
purpose.  Origen  was  right :  '  It  is  the  love  of  wife 
and  children  that  fills  up  the  measure  of  martyr- 
dom.'1 For  Perpetua  there  were  the  entreaties  of 
her  aged  heathen  father,  the  wailings  of  the  babe 
at  her  breast ' : 

4  When  I  was  in  the  hands  of  the  persecutors,  my  father  in  his 
tender  solicitude  tried  hard  to  pervert  me  from  the  faith.  "My 
father,"  I  said, "  you  see  this  pitcher  ;  can  we  call  it  by  any  other  name 
than  what  it  is  ?  "  "  No,"  he  said.  "  Nor  can  I  call  myself  by  any 
other  name  than  that  of  Christian."  So  he  went  away,  but,  on  the 
rumour  that  we  were  to  be  tried,  returned,  wasted  away  with  anxiety : 
"  Daughter,"  he  said,  "  have  pity  on  my  grey  hairs ;  have  compassion 
on  thy  father.  Do  not  give  me  over  to  disgrace.  Behold  thy  brothers, 
thy  mother,  thy  aunt ;  behold  thy  child  who  cannot  live  without  thee. 
Do  not  destroy  us  all."  Thus  spake  my  father,  kissing  my  hands,  and 
throwing  nimself  at  my  feet.  And  I  wept  because  of  my  father,  for 
he  alone  of  all  my  family  would  not  rejoice  in  my  martyrdom.  So  I 
comforted  him,  saying :  "  In  this  trial  what  God  determines  will  take 
place.  We  are  not  in  our  own  keeping,  but  in  God's."  So  he  left  me 
weeping  bitterly.'  (Robinson  o.c.  62-4 ;  Geb.  AMS  64-6.) 

But  when  the  day  of  trial  came  her  father  was  once 
more  at  the  bar,  calling  out  to  the  mother  as  he  held 
her  child  in  his  arms,  '  Have  pity  on  your  babe.' 

When  Phileas  of  Thmuis  was  brought  before 
Culcian,  the  prefect  of  Egypt,  the  trusted  friend  of 
Maximin,  Culcian  tried  with  many  arguments  to 
induce  him  to  sacrifice.  '  Have  you,'  he  asked,  '  a 
conscientious  objection  ?  '  On  Phileas  replying, '  Yes ' : 
'Why  does  not  conscience,'  pursued  the  prefect, 
'  tell  you  to  pay  regard  to  the  interests  of  your  wife 
and  children  ? '  '  Because  a  conscience  Godwards  has 

1  Origen  ad  Mart.  11.  He  knew  from  experience;  see  Euseb 
HE\\.  2. 


320         PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

a  higher  claim/  was  the  answer.  Upon  this  the 
officials  of  the  court,  the  mayor  of  Thmuis,  together 
with  his  family,  threw  themselves  at  his  feet,  beseech- 
ing the  bishop  to  have  pity  on  his  wife  and  children. 
But  he  stood  'like  a  rock  unmoved*  until  'his 
unquenchable  spirit  was  set  free  by  the  sword.' 1 

Over  Irenaeus  of  Sirmium — a  city  on  the  Save 
near  its  union  with  the  Danube — his  children,  wife, 
and  parents  lamented  with  bitter  groans  :  '  have  pity 
on  yourself  and  us ' ;  while  his  friends  implored  him 
to  have  pity  on  his  tender  youth.  '  My  Lord  Jesus,' 
was  the  reply,  '  told  us  that  he  that  loved  father  or 
mother  more  than  Me  was  not  worthy  of  Me.' 2  To 
Felicitas  of  Eome  :  'Have  pity,'  said  the  judge,  'on 
your  sons,  young  men  in  the  prime  of  life.'  '  Your 
exhortation,'  replied  Felicitas,  '  is  cruel  mockery.* 
Then  turning  to  her  sons  :  '  Lads,'  she  said,  '  look  up 
and  behold  the  heavens  where  Christ  awaits  you  with 
His  saints.  Fight  for  your  souls  and  show  your- 
selves faithful  in  the  love  of  Christ.' 3  '  Dionysia  of 

1  AM  495-6 ;    shortly  after  A.D.  304.     The  Act*  of  Phileas  are 
interesting,  and  possibly  genuine.    See  Le  Blant  SAM  112;  Mason 
PD  290,  but  contra  Harnack   GAL  ii  70  n.      Euseb.  HE  viii  10 
does  not  mention  them,  though  he  gives  the  Epistle  of  Phileas. 
The  difficulty  is  the  talk  on  'conscience.' 

2  AM  102;   Gebhardt   AN 8  163.    Time  of  Diocletian,  April  6, 
?  304.     See  also  supra  p.  142. 

3  AMZG.     The  story  of  Felicifas  is  undoubtedly  based  upon  fact 
(against  Neumann  RSK  i  295).     This  is  shown  by  the  discovery  by 
de  Rossi,  in  1858,  of  the  tomb  of  Januarius,  in  the  story  styled  the 
eldest  of  the  seven  sons,  in  the  cemetery  of  Praetextatus  (see  North- 
cote  and  Brownlow  RS  i  130-44).    But  iu  its  present  form  the  story, 
as  that  of  Symphorosa  (supra  p.  219),  is  only  one  of  many  variations 
of  the  popular  but  late  and  worthless  IV  Maoedb.  viii  1.    See  Lightf. 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED      321 

Alexandria,  the  mother  of  many  children,'  we  are 
told, '  did  not  love  them  more  than  the  Lord/ l  simple 
words  which  conceal  the  depths  of  anguish  through 
which  she  passed.  In  the  case  of  Afra  of  Augsburg, 
a  converted  prostitute,  who  is  reputed  to  have  suffered 
in  the  terror  of  Diocletian,  we  are  introduced  to  a 
new  form  of  temptation  of  even  more  subtle  power 

'  I  hear  you  were  a  prostitute/  said  the  judge  ;  '  sacrifice,  then,  for  the 
God  of  Christians  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  you.'  '  My  Lord,'  she 
replied, '  said  that  He  came  down  from  heaven  to  save  sinners  such 
as  me/ 

In  spite  of  all  reproaches  and  arguments,  she  persisted 
in  her  faith  in  the  power  of  Christ  to  save  even  to  the 
uttermost.  So  she  too  was  handed  over  to  the  flames.2 
Thus  the  harlot  gained  what  Cyprian  rightly  calls 
'  the  purple  robe  of  the  Lamb.'  8 

For  weeks  before  the  fatal  issue,  we  find  the 
martyrs  living  in  a  state  of  ecstasy.  They  see  the 
heavens  open,  and  the  triumphant  ones  that  follow 
the  Lamb  riding  upon  white  horses.  Three  days 
before  his  capture,  Polycarp  dreamed  that  his  pillow 
was  on  fire;  this  he  interpreted  as  signifying  by 
what  death  he  should  glorify  God.4  In  most  of  the 

Jgn.  i  502-5,  511-5.  The  date  in  DCB  ii  478,  following  AM,  &c.,  is 
probably  wrong.  It  should  not  be  150,  but  162  (i.e.  not  Antoninus 
Pius,  but  Marcus  Aurelius,  Allard  I  HP  346  n.  353).  See  also  Aube 
PE  439  ff.,  who  dates  (t'6.  464)  under  Sept.  Severus,  202-3. 

1  Euseb.  HE  vi  41.     Early  in  250. 

2  AM  456.    Even  if  the  narrative  is  not  historical  (see  Harnack 
CAL  ii  475  n.),  the  story  has  its  value.    According  to  Ruinart  the 
date  IB  Aug.  5,  304. 

3  Cyprian  de  Exhort.  Mart.  Pref.  3.  Purple  was  the  imperial  colour. 

4  Mart.  Polyc.  5.    Cf.  Cyprian  in  Pont.  Vit.  12. 

Y 


322        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

records  we  have  visions  of  recent  martyrs.  On  the 
night  before  her  fight  with  the  beasts  Perpetua 
dreamed  that  the  martyred  deacon  Pomponius  came 
to  her  cell.  *  Come/  he  said,  '  for  we  are  waiting  for 
thee.' 

'  So  he  held  my  hand,  and  we  began  to  climb  by  rough  and  winding 
ways.  At  length,  gasping  for  breath,  we  came  to  the  amphitheatre. 
There  he  placed  me  in  the  middle  of  the  arena  and  said,  "  Fear  not, 
I  am  here  with  thee." ' 

In  her  dream  she  fought  with  a  foul  Egyptian 
gladiator,  but  one  stood  by  '  with  a  green  branch  in 
his  hand  on  which  were  apples  of  gold.  At  last 
Perpetua  threw  the  Egyptian  down  and  received  the 
bough.  When  she  awoke,  1 1  knew,'  she  said,  *  the 
victory  was  mine.'  She  had  seen  the  '  devil  rolling 
in  the  dust.' 1 

Marianus,  a  martyr  possibly  of  Cirta,  dreamed 
that  he  saw  a  great  scaffold,  on  which  the  judge  was 
condemning  to  the  sword  bands  of  Christians.  '  My 
turn  came.  Then  I  heard  a  great  voice  saying, 
"Fasten  Marianus  up."'  So  he  too  mounted  the 
scaffold;  but,  lo,  instead  of  the  judge,  he  found  him- 
self amidst  green  fields  and  grass  waving  with 
sunlight,  holding  the  hand  of  the  martyr  Cyprian, 
who  smiled,  as  he  said,  '  Come  and  sit  beside  me.' 
The  day  before  this  dream  Marianus  had  been  hung 
up  by  the  thumbs,  with  unequal  weights  tied  to  his 
feet,  while  his  body  had  been  torn  by  an  iron  claw. 
In  the  awful  thirst  which  such  torture  brings,  we  can 
understand  the  further  vision ;  how  he  saw 

1  Robinaon  o.c.  78  or  Geb.  AM8  78. 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED      323 

•a  dell  in  the  midst  of  the  woods,  with  a  fall  clear  spring  flowing 
with  many  waters.  Then  Cyprian  caught  up  a  bowl  which  lay  beside 
the  spring,  filled  it  and  drained  it,  filled  it  again  and  reached  it  out 
to  me,  and  I  drank  it,  nothing  loath.  As  I  was  saying,  Thanks  be  to 
God,  I  woke  at  the  sound  of  my  own  voice.' l 

Saturus,  the  companion  of  Perpetua,  had  a  vision 
in  which  he  was  carried  by  four  angels  into  the  midst 
of  heaven  itself,  '  though  their  hands  touched  us  not.' 
There,  in  a  palace  'whose  walls  were  built  of  light,' 
and  which  stood  in  the  midst  of  fields  covered  with 
violets  and  flowers,  he  '  heard  the  voice  of  those  who 
sing  unceasingly,  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,'  and  received 
the  kiss  of  Christ : 

*  There  also  we  found  Jocundus  and  Saturninus,  and  Artaxius  who  had 
been  burnt  alive  in  the  same  prosecution,  and  Quiutus  who  had  died 
as  a  martyr  in  prison '  (Geb.  AMS  80). 

Quartillosia,  who  suffered  in  the  same  persecution 
as  Marianus,  whose  husband  and  son  had  witnessed 
the  good  confession  three  days  before,  saw  her  son 
enter  the  prison  in  which  she  herself  lay,  expecting 
death. 

'  And  he  sat  on  the  brim  of  a  fountain  and  said,  "  God  hath  seen 
your  tribulation  and  labour."  And  after  him  entered  a  young  man, 
wonderfully  tall,  carrying  two  bowls  of  milk  in  his  hands.  And  from 
these  bowls  he  gave  us  all  to  drink ;  and  the  bowls  failed  not.  And 
si  idenly  the  stone  which  divided  the  window  in  the  middle  was 
taken  away,  letting  in  the  free  face  of  the  sky.'  Geb.  AMS  149. 

1  For  Marianus  see  Geb.  AMS  134  ff.  The  date  is  fixed  by  the 
reference  to  Cyprian  as  May  6,  259.  Cf.  Flavian  p.  324  infra.  The 
Acta  Mariani  et  Jacobi  seems  to  have  been  written  at  the  time  by  a 
Christian  at  Cirta,  who  cut  an  inscription  to.  his  two  friends  on  a 
rock  in  his  garden  (Benson  Cyp.  471  n.).  The  genuineness  of  the 
Passio  Mariani  has  been  demonstrated  by  Franchi  do'  Cavalieri 
(1900).  Sec  Allard  III  HP  130  n.,  Harnack  CAL  ii  470. 


324        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

But  the  images  in  the  martyrs'  dreams  are  not 
always  those  of  thirst,  of  green  fields  and  orchards, 
or  of  the  free  breezes,  natural  as  such  dreams  are  to 
tortured  souls  in  prison.  Eenus,  another  of  the  same 
band  of  African  martyrs,  had  a  vision  in  which  he 
saw  his  companions  brought  into  court  one  by  one  ; 
'  as  each  one  advanced,  a  lantern  was  carried  before 
him.'  When  he  awoke  and  told  his  story  to  his 
comrade  in  prison,  '  then  were  we  glad,  having 
confidence  to  walk  with  Christ,  who  is  a  lantern  to 
our  feet.' l  A  martyr  named  Flavian,  one  of  Cyprian's 
flock  at  Carthage,  dreamed  that  he  asked  his  bishop 
'  whether  the  death-stroke  was  painful.'  And 
Cyprian  answered  and  said,  '  The  body  does  not 
feel  when  the  mind  is  wholly  devoted  to  God.' 2  On 
the  night  before  his  martyrdom,  another  of  the  same 
devoted  company,  James  of  Cirta,  dreamed  that  he 
saw  the  martyred  bishop  Agapius 

'  surrounded  by  all  the  others  who  were  imprisoned  with  us,  holding 
a  joyous  feast.  Marianus  and  I  were  carried  away  by  the  spirit  of 
love  to  join  it,  as  if  to  one  of  our  love-feasts,  when  a  boy  ran  to  meet 
us,  who  turned  out  to  be  one  of  the  twins  who  had  suffered  three  days 
before  in  company  with  their  mother.  He  had  a  wreath  of  roses 
round  his  neck,  and  bore  a  green  palm  in  his  right  hand.  And  he 
said,  "  Rejoice  and  be  glad,  for  to-morrow  you  shall  sup  with  us." ' 3 

In  her  first  vision  Perpetua  saw  the  Good  Shepherd, 
who  gave  her  a  morsel  of  cheese,  which  she  ate  with 

1  AM  231 ;  Geb.  AM8  148.  From  the  Acts  of  Montanus.  In 
spite  of  the  doubts  of  Rendel  Harris  I  see  no  reason  to  deny  the 
genuineness  of  these  Acts.  See  Allard  III  HP  116  ;  Harnack  CAL 
ii  471 ;  Healy  VP  207  ff.  Date  May,  259. 

*  A M  237;  Geb.  AMS  153. 

»  AM  228 ;  «eb.  AMS  143. 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED     325 

folded  hands !  When  she  awoke  with  the  sweet 
taste  still  in  her  mouth,  '  we  knew  that  our  passion 
was  at  hand/  l 

Nor  were  the  ecstasies  limited  to  the  martyrs 
themselves :  the  Christians  who  witnessed  their 
sufferings  also  dreamed  their  dreams  and  saw  their 
visions.  We  have  an  instance  of  this  in  the  last 
chapter  of  the  Antiochene  Acts  of  Martyrdom  of  St. 
Ignatius,  one  of  the  few  fragments  true  to  life  in  an 
otherwise  worthless  romance.  There  the  writer  tells 
how 

'  we  weak  men,  after  what  had  passed,  when  we  fell  asleep  for  a  while, 
some  of  us  suddenly  beheld  the  blessed  Ignatius  standing  by  and 
embracing  us,  while  by  others  again  he  was  seen  praying  over  us,  and 
by  others  dripping  with  sweat,  as  if  he  were  come  from  a  hard 
struggle,  and  were  standing  at  the  Lord's  side,  with  much  boldness 
and  unutterable  glory/  Lightf.  Ign.  ii  49. 

After  the  burning  of  Fructuosus,  the  bishop  of 
Tarragona,  and  his  deacons  (January  21,  259),  two  of 
the  Christian  servants  of  the  judge  saw  the  martyrs 
ascending  to  heaven,  'with  their  chains  still  upon 
them,  but  crowns  on  their  brows,'  and  pointed  them 
out  to  the  governor's  daughter.  She  fetched  her 
father,  *who,  however,  was  not  worthy  to  see 
them.' 2  But  at  Alexandria  the  vision  of  the  martyr 
Potamiaena  led  to  the  conversion  of  many  heathen 
who  had  witnessed  her  sufferings.3  To  the  same 
exalted  and  nervous  condition  we  may  well  attribute 

1  Robinson  o.o.  68 ;  Geb.  AMS  68.    For  other  visions  of  martyrs 
whose  passion  was  but  recent,  see  Euseb.  HE  vi  5. 

2  AM  221.    Aube*  EE  408-12. 

*  For  Potumiaena,  see  supra  p.  303  n.  1. 


326         PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

the  strange  sweet  smells,  tlie  heavenly  voices,  and  other 
incidents  which  the  faithful  were  quick  to  discern  at 
the  passing  of  their  heroes.  At  Lyons  the  martyrs, 
we  are  told,  '  were  so  fragrant  with  the  sweet  odour 
of  Christ  that  some  bystanders  supposed  that  they 
had  been  anointed  with  myrrh.' 1  At  the  execution 
of  Polycarp,  his  friends  heard  a  voice  from  heaven 
calling  upon  him  to  play  the  man;  after  his  death 
there  arose  from  his  ashes,  as  they  thought,  a 
fragrant  odour  '  like  the  fumes  of  incense,  or  other 
fragrant  drugs.' 2 

When  the  day  of  their  trial  came,  the  confidence 
of  the  Christians — Pliny,  in  his  famous  letter,  had 
called  it  their  '  inflexible  obstinacy  * — was  in  no  wise 
shaken.  The  Koman  court,  with  its  instruments  of 
torture,  set  out  in  grim  array — the  hobby-horse,  the 
claws,  the  rack,  the  heated  irons,  the  boiling  oil — the 
howling  mob,  the  insignia  of  an  imperial  power,  from 
which  there  was  no  escape,  did  not  overawe  the 
confessors.  Theirs  was  the  confidence  of  the  Angel 
of  Eepentance  in  the  Shepherd  of  Hermas — one  of  the 
books  that  profoundly  influenced  the  early  martyrs,  as 
we  may  learn  from  the  allusions  to  it  in  the  story  of 
Perpetua — 

'  Fear  not  the  Devil,  for  there  is  no  power  in  him  against  you.  The 
Devil  hath  fear  alone,  but  his  fear  hath  no  force.  The  Devil  can 
wrestle  against  you,  but  wrestle  you  down  he  cannot ! ' 3 

1  Euseb.  HE  v  (1)  35,  Geb.  AMS  35. 

*  Mart.  Polyo.  9.    Due  to  the  burnt  wood.     See  supra  p.  309. 
8  See  Hermas  Shep.  Mand.  xii  4,  5,  and  cf.  tb,  Mand.  xii  6,  Sim. 
viii  3  (a  passage  not  in  all  MSS.). 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED      327 

In  all  churches  the  day  of  martyrdom  became  known 
as  the  confessor's  'birthday,'  a  joyous  term,  signi- 
ficant of  much.  At  the  martyrdom  of  Polycarp, 
eleven  heroes  from  Philadelphia 

'  were  so  torn  with  lashes  that  the  inward  veins  and  arteries  were 
visible,  so  that  the  very  bystanders  had  pity  and  wept.  But  they 
themselves  uttered  neither  cry  nor  groan,  thus  proving  to  us  all  that 
at  that  hour  the  martyrs  of  Christ,  though  tortured,  were  absent 
from  the  flesh,  or  rather,  that  the  Lord  was  standing  by  and  con- 
versing with  them '  (Mart.  Polyc.  2). 

When  the  Scillitan  martyrs,  seven  men  and  five 
women,  were  condemned  by  Saturninus  at  Carthage : 
'  We  give  God  thanks/  cried  one ;  '  To-day  we  shall 
be  in  heaven,'  added  a  second.1  This  talk  of  heaven 
sometimes  bewildered,  sometimes  amused  the  magis- 
trates. *  Do  you  suppose,'  said  the  prefect  Junius 
Eusticus  to  Justin  and  his  companions,  'that  you 
will  ascend  up  to  heaven  to  receive  some  recompense 
there  ?  ' 2  'I  do  not  suppose,'  was  Justin's  answer,  'for 
I  know  it,  and  am  persuaded  of  it.'  'Earth,'  cried 
Cyprian,  in  the  same  spirit  of  assurance, 

'  is  shut  against  us,  but  heaven  is  opened ;  death  overtakes  us,  but 
immortality  follows ;  the  world  recedes,  but  Paradise  receives.  What 
honour,  what  peace,  what  joy,  to  shut  our  eyes  on  the  world  and  men, 
and  open  them  on  the  face  of  God  and  His  Christ  I  Oh,  short  and 
blessed  voyage  I '  (de  Exhort.  Mart.  13). 

Of  Dativus  we  read  that  he  was  '  rather  a  spectator 
of  his  own  tortures  than  a  sufferer.' 8    When  Carpus 

1  Geb.  AMS  26.    See  »wpra  p.  193  n. 

2  Geb.  AMS  20-1.    This  seems  to  be  the  first  recorded  use  of  the 
phrase  *  going  to  heaven.' 

3  Supra  p.  143. 


328        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

was  nailed  up  to  the  cross  he  was  observed  to  smile. 
'  What  made  you  laugh  ? '  asked  his  tormentors,  in 
astonishment.  *  I  saw  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  and 
was  glad,'  was  the  answer.  Standing  by  was  a 
woman  named  Agathonice.  She  caught  the  infection 
of  his  enthusiasm.  '  That  dinner,'  she  cried,  '  is 
prepared  for  me ' ;  then  tore  off  her  garments  and  laid 
herself  upon  the  cross.1  So  great  was  the  Christians' 
eagerness  and  confidence,  that  Saturninus — one  of 
the  friends  of  Perpetua — used  to  say  to  his  com- 
panions in  prison,  as  they  talked  over  their  coming 
fate,  'that  he  wished  he  could  fight  all  the  beasts, 
that  so  he  might  win  a  more  glorious  crown.' a 
When  Phileas  of  Thmuis  was  condemned  to  the 
sword :  '  Present  my  thanks,'  he  said,  '  to  the 
emperors,  for  they  have  made  me  joint  heir  with 
Christ.'3  When  the  cruel  Datian  ordered  his 
executioners  to  furrow  the  sides  of  the  young  girl 
Eulalia  of  Merida  in  Spain  :  'Lord,'  she  cried,  '  they 
are  writing  that  Thou  art  mine.' 4  At  the  trial  of 
James  of  Cirta,  the  attention  of  the  heathen  in  court 
was  drawn  to  one  of  the  bystanders.  So  joyous  was 

1  For  the  Acts  of  Carpus,  Papylus  and  Agathonike  in  Greek  see 
Harnack  TU  (3)  1888,  440  ff.  or  Geb.  AMS  33.    Until  recently  these 
Acts  were  only  known  in  the  spurious  form  of  Symeon  Metaphrast. 
(PC?  cxv  106  ff.)-    But  ia  1881  Aube'  published  a  shorter  form,  without 
doubt  the  authentic  Acts  to  which  Euseb.  HE  iv  15  fin.  refers.    (Seo 
Aube"  EE  499  ff.)    For  date  see  supra  p.  227  c,  and  not  as  Gregg  PD 
244  under  Decius. 

2  Robinson  o.c.  88  ;  Geb.  AMS  89. 

3  AM  496.    See  supra  p.  320  n. 

4  Prudentius  Peristeph.  iii  31  ff.     But  the  Peristephanon  is  far 
from  being  a  serious  historical  work. 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED     329 

his  mien,  that  the  magistrates,  in  suspicion,  asked  him 
if  he  were  not  a  Christian — for,  added  the  writer, 
'  Christ  shone  in  his  face  and  bearing.* *  Babylas  of 
Antioch  saw  six  of  his  catechumens  perish  before  his 
eyes.  He  then  laid  his  head  upon  the  bloc7i,  saying, 
'  Here  am  I,  0  God,  and  the  children  whom  Thou  hast 
given  me.'  According  to  Chrysostom,  whose  evidence 
in  this  particular  may  be  trusted,  his  chains  were 
buried  with  him,  by  his  own  desire,  '  to  show  to  the 
world  that  the  things  which  the  world  despises  are 
the  glory  of  the  Christian.' 2 

Both  Aristides  and  Celsus  find  fault  with  the 
Christians  for  their  mixture  of  humility  and  arro- 
gance.8 At  the  bar  the  assurance  of  the  Christians 
was  overwhelming.  Oftentimes  the  confessor  lectured 
his  judge,  as  if  they,  not  he,  were  pleading  for  their 
lives.  '  You  judge  us,  but  God  shall  judge  you/  said 
the  Carthaginian  martyrs — the  friends  of  Perpetua — 
to  the  prefect  Hilarian;  nor  were  they  daunted  by 
the  cries  of  the  people,  that  for  this  insult  they 
should  be  scourged.4  For  the  martyrs  believed,  in 
the  words  of  Tertullian,  that  the  day  should  come 
when  they  '  would  judge  their  judges.' 6  '  Sacrifice 

1  Geb.  AMS  142.     See  supra  p.  323  n. 

a  For  Babylas  see  Lightfoot  Ign.  i  40-2.  According  to  Eusebius 
HE  vi  39,  he  suffered  in  the  reign  of  Deems ;  see  supra  p.  157  n. 
His  Acts  assign  it  to  Numerian  (284),  the  tendency  being  to  transfer 
martyrdoms  to  the  persecution  last  in  the  writer's  mind.  Numerian's 
obscurity  invited  martyrologists  to  agsign  to  him  martyrdoms  of 
whose  dates  they  were  ignorant.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  did  not 
persecute  at  all  (Aube*  EE  494  n.). 

»  Arist.  Orat.  46 ;  Orig.  Cds.  iv  23  and  29. 

4  Robinson  o.c.  88 ;  Geb.  AMS  89.    Cf.  passim  in  AM. 

•  Tert.  ad  Mart.  2.     Cf.  supra  pp.  155,  316  n.  6. 


330        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

or  die,'  said  the  proconsul  Marcian  to  Achatius,  who 
seems  to  have  been  a  bishop  of  one  of  the  lesser 
Antiochs,  or  of  some  village  near  Antioch.  '  That  is 
what  the  highwaymen  of  Dalmatia  say,'  was  the  con- 
temptuous reply,  '  when  they  meet  you  in  a  dark, 
narrow  lane.  Your  verdicts  are  of  the  same  order.' 1 
Claudius,  a  young  Christian  of  Aegea,  in  Cilicia,  was 
placed  on  a  hobby-horse  and  flames  applied  to  his 
feet,  while  the  claw  tore  his  sides.  '  Fool  and  mad- 
man,' cried  the  youth  to  his  judge,  '  do  you  not  care 
for  what  the  Lord  will  make  you  pay  for  this  ?  You 
are  blind,  altogether  blind  ! ' 2  Andronicus,  another 
of  the  many  martyrs  of  Cilicia,  was  beaten  with  raw 
hides  until  his  whole  body  was  one  wound.  '  Kub 
his  back  well  with  salt/  said  the  cruel  Flavius 
Numerianus  Maximus.  '  You  must  rub  in  more  salt 
than  that,'  was  the  joking  answer,  '  if  I  am  to  keep.' 
'  You  cursed  fellow/  said  Maximus,  '  you  talk  to  me 
as  if  you  were  my  equal.'  'I  am  not  your  equal/ 
retorted  the  Christian,  '  but  I  have  the  right  to  talk.1 
'I  will  cut  out  your  right,  you  ruffian/  cried  the 
judge.  '  You  will  never  be  able  to  do  that/  said  the 
prisoner,  'neither  you,  nor  your  father  Satan,  nor 
the  devils  whom  you  serve.'  '  Take  hold  of  his  cheeks 
and  rip  them  up/  said  Maximus,  as  another  of  the 
same  band,  Tarachus  by  name,  stood  before  him  for 

1  AM  154  or  Geb.  AM8  115.  The  narrative  has  been  touched  up 
for  edification,  and  the  conclusion  that  Decius,  '  lectis  gostis/ 
ordered  his  release  is  absurd,  though,  as  shortly  afterwards  Decius 
terminated  the  persecution,  Achatius  may  have  escaped.  Date  about 
251.  See  Harnack  CAL  ii  468,  and  in  defence  Allard  II  HP  43G  ff. 

8  See  supra  p.  298.    Aug.  23,  304, 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PEE8ECUTED     331 

the  third  time  of  torture,  with  jaws  crushed,  ears 
burnt  off,  his  body  one  mass  of  wounds.  'Don't 
think,'  replied  Tarachus,  'that  you  can  terrify  me 
with  your  words;  I  am  ready  for  you  at  all  points,  for 
I  wear  the  armour  of  God ! '  A  long  dialogue  followed, 
but  all  the  varied  tortures  of  the  judge  were  powerless 
to  break  the  daring  defiance  and  contempt  of  the 
prisoner.1  Against  such  men  the  gates  of  hell  could 
not  prevail.  '  These  are  they/  said  St.  Cyprian,  with 
a  glance  back  at  his  heathen  days — 

*  whom  we  held  sometimes  in  derision,  and  as  a  proverb  of  reproach. 
"We  fools  counted  their  life  madness,  and  their  end  to  be  without 
honour.  How  are  they  numbered  among  the  children  of  God,  and 
their  lot  is  among  the  saints  I ' 2 

The  Christian's  contempt  of  death  was  remarkable 
even  in  an  age  in  which  indifference  to  death  formed 
one  of  the  pleasures  of  life.  The  satirist  Lucian  tells 
us,  with  laughter,  of  the  contempt  of  death  which  led 
the  Christians,  as  well  as  the  Cynics,  with  whom  they 
were  often  confounded,  to  surrender  themselves  of 
their  own  free  will  to  martyrdom,  and  thus  '  bring  a 
golden  life  to  a  golden  close.'  3  '  These  imbeciles,'  he 
sneered,  '  are  persuaded  that  they  are  absolutely 
immortal,  and  that  they  will  live  for  ever/  'Our 

1  AM  422  ff.  The  date  is  doubtful  (Ruinart  421) ;  about  304. 
For  the  genuineness  of  this  document,  see  supra  p.  196  n.,  and  Harnack 
CAL  ii  479  n.  Long  extracts  are  given  in  Mason  PD  189  ff. 
Maximus  naturally  considered  that  '  the  armour  of  God '  pointed  to 
sorcery;  see  supra  p.  132  n.  The  case  of  Tarachus  is  a  genuine 
case  of  sedition. 

a  De  Exhort.  Mart.  12.    Cyprian  is  quoting  Wisdom  v  4,  5. 

8  Lucian  PP  13,  33.  The  self-immolation  of  Peregriaua  as  a 
Cynic  took  place  in  165.  (Euseb.  Chron.  ii  170,  ed.  Schoeue.) 


332        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

young  men  and  maidens/  boasts  Minucius  Felix, 
writing  a  few  years  earlier,  mock  your  crosses  and 
tortures,  your  wild  beasts  and  all  the  terrors  of  your 
punishments  ! ' l  With  this  agrees  the  testimony  of 
Cyprian:  'The  tortured  stood  more  firm  than  the 
torturers ;  the  torn  limbs  overcame  the  hooks  that 
tore  them.' 2  '  The  Christians,'  writes  another,  '  all 
disregard  the  world  and  despise  death.' 3  '  Christianus 
sum,' — the  fatal  confession,  to  which  there  was  but 
one  issue — was  the  sole  answer  to  all  their  questions 
which  the  magistrates  of  Antioch  could  extort  from 
Lucian.4  '  Condemnation/  said  Tertullian,  '  gives  us 
more  pleasure  than  acquittal ' ; 6  and  we  have  evidence 
of  this  other  than  that  of  an  enthusiast,  in  the  fact 
that  their  contempt  of  death  was  actually  one  of  the 
charges  brought  against  the  Christians  by  the  heathen.6 
'  Unhappy  men !  '  exclaimed  the  proconsul  Arrius 
Antoninus  on  seeing  all  the  Christians  of  a  certain 
town  in  Asia  present  themselves  at  his  bar,  though 
they  knew  well  the  consequences ;  '  if  you  are  weary 
of  your  lives,  cannot  you  find  halters  and  precipices  ? 7 
'  Go,  then,  and  kill  yourselves/  cried  another  in 
derision,  '  and  pass  to  your  God,  but  do  not  trouble 

Octavius  37.    Date  uncertain,  possibly  160.     See  supra  p.  221  n. 

Cyprian  Ep.  x. 

Ep.  Diog.  i.     Cf.  Justin  II  Apol  12. 

AM  506.     See  supra  p.  142  n. 

Ad  Scapulam  1. 

Tert.  ad  Nationes  19 ;   Apol  50.     Celsus  in  Orig.  ii  38,  45,  73 
makes  this  one  of  his  charges  against  Jesus.    Marcus  Aurelius  Med. 
xi  3  attributes  it  to  '  obstinacy,'  Epictetus,  Arrian  Epic.  Diss.  iv  7,  6 
to  habit.    But  Tac.  Hist,  v  5  has  reference  to  Jews  only. 
7  Teit.  ad  Scap.  5.     For  the  date,  184-5,  see  supra  p.  227. 


THE   EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED      333 

us.' l  '  As  a  rule,1  said  the  Emperor  Diocletian,  '  the 
Christians  are  only  too  happy  to  die ' — and  Diocletian 
certainly  was  in  a  position  to  know.  Eusebius,  an 
eye-witness,  tells  us  that  the  martyrs  of  the  Thebais, 
in  the  time  of  Diocletian,  '  received  the  sentence  of 
death  with  gladness  and  exultation,  so  far  even  as  to 
sing  hymns  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  until  they 
breathed  their  last.' 2  For  they  believed  that  after 
death  the — 

*  angels  would  carry  them  eastward,  past  the  storehouse  of  hail  and 
snow,  past  the  fountains  of  rain,  past  the  spirits  of  wickedness  which 
are  in  the  air,  and  carry  them  to  the  seventh  circle,  setting  them 
down  full  opposite  the  glory  of  God.'  * 

1  Why  are  you  so  bent  upon  death  ? '  said  an 
official  to  the  martyr  Pionius  of  Smyrna.  '  You  are 
so  bent  upon  death/  he  added,  'that  you  make 
nothing  of  it.'  '  We  are  bent,  not  upon  death,'  replied 
Pionius,  'but  upon  life.'  When  nailed  to  the  cross, 
the  officer  made  one  last  effort  to  induce  him  to 
recant.  '  Carry  out  the  edict,'  he  promised,  '  and  the 
nails  shall  be  withdrawn.'  '  I  felt  that  they  were  in,' 
was  the  answer,  as,  turning  to  the  people,  he  bid 
them  remember  that  '  after  death  came  the  resurrec- 
tion.' When  the  fires  were  lighted,  'with  joyous 

1  Justin  M.  II  Apol  4. 
3  HJ?viii9. 

a  Callistratus  in  Conybeare  MEG  312.  For  the  belief  that  the 
soul  went  eastward,  cf.  an  interesting  passage  in  Eusebius  HP  11, 
where  a  martyr  puzzles  Firmilianus  with  this  doctrine,  *  philosophiz- 
ing on  and  paying  no  regard  to  the  tortures.'  It  is  interesting  to 
note  that  Firmilianus  evidently  did  not  know  the  name  Jerusalem 
at  all.  In  his  day  Aelia  (supra  p.  121)  had  supplanted  it. 


334        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

countenance,  he  cried,  Amen.'  '  So  he  too,'  adds  the 
chronicler,  '  passed  through  the  narrow  gate  to  the 
large  place  and  great  light.' l  '  Will  you  be  with  us, 
or  with  your  Christ?'  asked  the  governor,  as  they 
hung  Nestor,  bishop  of  Perga,  the  chief  city  of 
Pamphylia, '  well  strapped  and  curry- combed,'  upon 
the  cross.  The  bishop  answered :  '  With  Christ  I 
am,  and  always  was,  and  always  shall  be.' 2  When 
Nicander,  a  soldier  quartered  in  Moesia  (Bulgaria), 
arrived  at  the  place  of  execution,  his  wife  Daria  was 
brought  to  his  side.  '  God  be  with  you,'  said  the 
husband.  '  Be  of  good  cheer,'  replied  the  wife,  for 
whom  the  years  of  separation  when  she  was  a 
Christian  and  he  a  heathen  still  were  now  at  an 
end — 

*  play  the  hero.  Ten  years  I  spent  at  home  without  you,  and  every 
moment  I  prayed  God  that  I  might  see  you.  Now  I  have  seen  you, 
I  rejoice  that  you  are  setting  out  for  life.  How  loud  shall  I  sing,  and 
how  proud  I  ain  that  soon  I  shall  be  a  martyr's  wife  I  So  be  of  good 
cheer,  and  bear  your  witness  to  God.' 3 

When  Irenaeus  of  Sirmium  was  condemned  to  be 

1  Geb.  AMS  114.     See  supra  p.  297  <F.,  and  infra  p.  342. 

2  For  the  Acts  of  Nestor  in  Latin,  see  A.88  Feb.  iii  629  ff.,  un- 
doubtedly worked  up  in  this  form  into  an  edifying  romance.    But 
the  original  Greek  discovered  by  Aube,  and  printed  in  EE  507  ff., 
is  more  historical.    See  Le  Blant  SAM  passim,  who  often  illustrates 
his  positions  from  them;    see  his  Index.    The  date,  according  to 
Aube'  ib.  177  Allard  II  HP  442  ff.,  is  250,  but,  as  Harnack  observes 
(GAL  ii  470  n.),  its  Christological  formulae  (coeternus,  &c.)  point  to 
a  later  date. 

3  AM  551-4.     The  date  is  either  June  8  or  17  (AM  551  n.),  year 
unknown,  but  probably  temp.  Diocletian.     Soldiers  were  not  per* 
mitted  to  live  with  their  wives  until  Sept.  Severus.    The  husband  and 
wife  were  buried  together  at  Venafrio,  near  Capua  (AM  554).    The 
touching  tale  of  Timothy  and  Maura  (Kingsley 's  Poems')  is  not  historical. 


THE   EXPERIENCES   OF  THE   PERSECUTED     335 

thrown  into  the  Save,  his  face  showed  his  disappoint- 
ment— 

'I  expected,'  he  said,  'many  tortures.  Torture  me,  I  beseech  you, 
that  you  may  learn  how  Christians,  because  of  their  faith  in  God, 
have  schooled  themselves  to  despise  death.' l 

Of  Victor,  the  father  of  the  martyr  Maximilian  of 
Theveste,  we  read  that  after  the  execution — 

'  he  returned  to  the  house  with  great  joy,  thanking  God  that  he  had 
sent  on  such  a  gift  before  him,  and  determined  to  follow  after.' 2 

In  no  document  of  the  early  Church  is  the  ecstasy 
of  the  martyrs,  and  their  indifference  to — we  might 
almost  call  it  their  enthusiasm  for — death  more 
clearly  brought  out  than  in  the  Epistles  of  Ignatius, 
though  no  doubt  some  allowance  must  be  made  for 
the  excitable  Syrian  nature.  Of  the  circumstances 
which  led  to  the  condemnation  of  Ignatius,  the  second 
bishop  of  Antioch  and  metropolitan  of  Syria,8  we 
know  nothing.  The  persecutions  at  Antioch,  by  no 
means  limited  to  Ignatius,*  has  left  no  other 
memorials  of  itself  than  these  Epistles.  As  a  rule 
Christians,  unless  Eoman  citizens,  were  executed  in 
the  place  of  their  crime;  but  for  special  reasons, 
probably  connected  with  the  extraordinary  spectacles 
which  Trajan  had  given  in  the  Coliseum,  whose  magni- 
tude had  long  since  drained  Rome  of  both  gladiators 
and  criminals,5  Theophorus  Ignatius  '  entwined  with 

AM  403.  See  tupra  p.  320. 
AM  302.  See  supra  p.  185. 
Haruack  EC  ii  89. 

Ign.  Philadelph  x  2,  '  the  Church  in  Antioch  hath  now  peace.' 
Merivale  Romans  under  the  Empire  viii  150  and  many  others 
have  found  this  journey  to  Rome  to  be  a  fiction  moulded  on  the 


336        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

saintly  fetters,  the  diadem  of  the  truly  elect/  l  was 
sent  from  Antioch  to  Rome,  "to  make  a  Roman 
holiday."  He  tells  us  that  he  was  in  the  charge  of 
ten  soldiers,  whom  he  compares,  with  a  touch  of 
humour,  to  '  ten  leopards.' 2  Every  effort  on  the  part 
of  himself  and  his  friends  to  appease  them  only  led  to 
fresh  cruelties,  in  the  hope,  probably,  of  fresh  exac- 
tions. The  details  of  this  journey  of  Ignatius,  the 
letters  which  he  wrote  en  route  to  various  churches, 
with  their  wealth  of  intercourse  and  love,  need  not 
concern  us.  At  Smyrna  he  held  delightful  fellowship 
with  one  destined  in  later  years  to  tread  the  narrow 
way  himself,  the  bishop  Polycarp.  Landing  in 
Europe  in  the  footsteps  of  St.  Paul,  we  lose  sight  of 
him  after  Philippi.  The  rest  is  only  legend.8  But 

analogy  of  St.  Paul's.  But  criminals  and  Christians  were  frequently 
Bent  to  Rome  for  use  in  the  games,  cf.  Pliny's  statement  supra  p.  210  ; 
and  the  Acts  of  Phocas  (MEG  94)  for  the  case  of  Phocas.  In 
Polycarp  Phil.  9  we  have  the  names  of  two  others  thus  sent,  Zosimus 
and  Rufus,  while  Ignatius  implies  that  it  was  a  common  practice  by 
his  phrase  *  Ye  are  a  highway  of  them  that  are  on  their  way  to  die 
unto  God'  (Eph.  12  with  Lightfoot's  notes).  For  the  history  of  this 
transport  see  Lightf.  Ign.  i  342-3,  Ramsay  ChE  317-8,  Momm.  PEE 
ii  199.  By  an  edict  of  Severus  and  Caracalla  (198-211)  it  was  made 
illegal  except  by  the  permit  of  the  emperor.  See  Modestinus  in  Dig. 
xlviii  19.  How  drained  Rome  would  be  of  gladiators  and  criminals 
will  be  clear  to  those  who  remember  that  one  of  Trajan's  shows 
lasted  123  days,  and  that  11,000  beasts  and  10,000  gladiators  were 
engaged  (Dion.  Cass.  Ixviii  15). 

1  Polyc.  Phil.  1.    For  his  name  Theophorus  see  supra  170  n. 

2  Ign.  Rom.  5. 

3  There    are    two    accounts  of   the  last  scenes   in  the  life  of 
Ignatius,  the  Antioohene  and  the  Roman  Acts.    The  Roman  Act»  are 
pure  romance,  written  at  the  close  of  the  fifth  century  (Lightfoot  Ign. 
ii  382).     The  Antiochene  (in  Ruinart  AM  from  Ussher)  may  contain 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED     337 

there  is  little  doubt  that,  as  Origen  tells  us,1  in  a  fight 
with  wild  beasts,  in  the  Coliseum  at  Eome,  Ignatius, 
whom  Lightfoot  well  calls  "the  captain  of  martyrs," 
paid  the  price  of  his  faith  with  his  own  life  about  the 
same  time  as  his  fellow-Christians  in  Bithynia  suffered 
under  Pliny  and  Trajan. 

In  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans — "his  paean  pro- 
phetic of  the  coming  victory  " 2 — Ignatius  had  already 
anticipated  the  final  act  in  his  description  of  himself 
as  '  God's  wheat,  ground  fine  by  the  teeth  of  wild 
beasts,  that  he  may  be  found  pure  bread,  a  sacrifice 
to  God.' 8  In  more  than  one  passage  we  see  Ignatius 
not  so  much  resigned  as  eager  for  the  day  of  martyr- 
dom— '  in  the  midst  of  life,  yet  lusting  after  death/ 
He  realizes  all  the  struggle,  he  is  more  than  assured 
of  the  victory : 

'  Come  fire,  and  cross,  and  grapplings  with  wild  beasts,  cuttings  and 
ruanglings,  wrenchings  of  bones,  breaking  of  limbs,  crushing  of  my 
whole  body,  come  cruel  tortures  of  the  devil  to  assail  me.  Only  be  it 
mine  to  attain  unto  Jesus  Christ.'  * 

In  passages  such  as  these  we  hear  the  shout  of  one 

a  kernel  of  genuine  tradition.  See  supra  p.  325.  (They  were  accepted 
by  Pearson,  Ussber,  etc.,  as  genuine,  But  see  Lightfoot  Ign.  ii 
383-90.) 

1  Orig.  Horn,  in  Luc.  i.     The  date  is  uncertain,  probably  Oct.  17, 
but  the  year  is  unknown,  the  limits  being  between  107  and  118.    See 
Lightfoot's  investigation  Ign.  ii  416-72,    Harnack  dates  about  115, 
GAL  i  406. 

2  Lightf.  Ign.  i  37,  i  38. 

3  Ign.  Rom.  4  Jerome  de  Vir.  111.  1C  transfers  this  saying  to  the 
Coliseum,  following  Euseb.  EE  iii  36,  with,  however,  a  characteristic 
flourish  of  his  own,  cum  rugientes  audiret  leones,  *  when  he  heard  the 
roaring  of  the  Hone.' 

4  Eph.  1 ;  Trail  12  end ;  Bom.  5,  6, 7. 

Z 


338        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EAELY  CHURCH 

triumphant  already,  who  felt  *  the  pangs  of  the  new 
birth '  upon  him.  '  Near  the  sword/  he  cries,  '  the 
nearer  to  God;  in  company  with  wild  heasts,  in 
company  with  God.'  '  Do  not  hinder  me,'  he  con- 
tinues— he  refers  to  some  possible  appeal  by  influential 
parties  at  Rome  to  the  emperor,  which  might  save 
him — 

*  from  living,  do  not  desire  my  death.  .  .  .  Suffer  me  to  receive  the 
pure  light.  When  I  am  come  to  the  arena,  then  shall  I  become  a 
man.  Permit  me  to  be  an  imitator  of  the  passion  of  my  God.' 

He  bids  men  '  sing  a  chorus  of  love  to  the  Father '  for 
the  grace  that  is  his,  '  to  be  poured  out  as  a  libation 
to  God.'  For  he  is  assured :  '  If  I  shall  suffer,  then 
am  I  a  freedman  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  I  shall  rise  free 
in  Him.' 1  So  he  prays  that  he 

'  may  have  joy  in  the  beasts,  and  find  them  prompt.  If  not  I  will 
entice  them  that  they  may  devour  me  promptly,  not  as  they  have 
done  to  some,  refusing  to  touch  them  through  fear '  (Rom.  5). 


Many  there  were,  among  them  not  a  few  clerics, 
whom  the  hour  of  trial  found  wanting,  who  in  the 
expressive  phrase  of  Ignatius  'hawked  about  the 
Name.'2  For  there  is  nothing  which  so  tests  the 
reality  of  faith  as  the  call  to  the  great  renunciation. 
Nor  must  we  overlook  how  easy  recantation  designedly 
had  been  made.  For,  as  Tertullian  pointed  out, 
there  was  this  curious  feature  about  Christianity, 

1  Smyrn.  4.    Bom.  2,  4,  6.  2  Eph.  7,  Ti>  foo^a. 


THE  EXPEKIENCES  OF  THE  PEESECUTED     339 

distinguishing  it  from  every  other  criminal  charge, 
that  a  mere  denial  was  sufficient  to  procure  acquittal.1 
There  were  degrees  and  stages  of  apostasy.  Some, 
who  had  no  deepness  of  root,  '  when  the  sun  was 
risen,  withered  away.'  As  the  Christians  of  Lyons 
wrote  with  sadness  of  ten  of  their  number,  '  they  were 
unable  to  bear  the  tension  of  a  great  conflict.' 2 
*  Many  of  our  brethren,'  adds  Cyprian — 

4  vanquished  before  the  fight,  did  not  even  make  a  show  of  sacrificing 
under  compulsion.  They  ran  of  their  own  account  to  the  Forum, 
as  if  they  were  indulging  a  long-cherished  desire.  There  you  could 
see  them  entreating  the  magistrates  to  receive  their  recantations, 
although  it  was  already  night '  (de  Lapsis  8). 

Such  apostates,  when  brought  before  the  altar, '  stood 
pale  and  trembling,  as  if  they  were  not  to  sacrifice, 
but  themselves  to  be  the  sacrifice.' 3  A  few,  not  con- 
tent with  denying  their  Lord,  under  the  terror  of 
pain  betrayed  their  brethren.4  Some  there  were,  of 
stouter  faith,  who  could  endure  days  of  imprison- 
ment, but  whom  torture  or  the  horrid  anticipation 
thereof  overcame.5  Nor  were  those  who  had  thrust 
themselves  forward  for  martyrdom  always  the  most 
courageous.  At  the  supreme  moment  their  enthu- 
siasm failed,  and  they  denied  the  faith  for  which 

1  Tert.  Apol.  2,  ad  Nat.  2.     The  case  at  Lyons,  where  those  who 
recanted    were     afterwards    punished    as    '  murderers    and    guilty 
criminals'  (Euseb.  v  (1)  33 ;  Geb.  AMS  35),  is  quite  exceptional. 

2  Euseb.  HE  v  (i)  11  in  Geb.  AMS  30.    Of.  HE  vi  41. 

3  Dionysius  of  Alexandria  in  Euseb.  HE  vi  41.    Persecution  of 
Decius. 

4  Possibly  this  happened  in  the  earliest  persecution  at  Borne. 
See  Tac.  Ann.  xv  44  quoted  on  p.  54  with  note. 

6  Cyprian  de  Lapsiy  13.    Case  of  Nioomachus  AM  259. 


340        PERSECUTION  IN  THE   EAELY   CHURCH 

the  Much-afraids  unhesitatingly  laid  down  their 
lives.  We  have  an  instance  of  this  in  the  case  of 
Quintus  the  Phrygian,  at  the  time  of  the  martyrdom 
of  Polycarp.  (Mart.  Polyc.  4.) 

Others  again,  who  did  not  actually  recant,  did  not 
scruple  to  purchase  the  necessary  certificates  of  sacri- 
fice (libelli)  from  easy-going  magistrates,  or  to  use 
those  procured  for  them  by  anxious  pagan  friends. 
We  hear  also  of  some  Christians  of  the  baser  sort 
who  sent  their  Christian  slaves  to  represent  them  at 
the  sacrifice,1  or  who  succeeded  in  bribing  the  at- 
tendants to  let  them  slip  past  the  altar  without  actual 
sacrifice  or  eating  of  the  sacrifices.  These  certifi- 
cates, which  form  such  a  feature  in  the  persecution 
of  Decius,  were  probably  all  of  similar  form,  and  ran 
as  follows  (we  quote  from  one  discovered  in  the 
Fayum  in  1893,  and  now  at  Berlin) :— a 

1  Cases  at  Alexandria  dealt  with  by  Peter  its  bishop  in  306. 
Peter  carefully  distinguished  between  the  purchase  of  certificates 
and    the  paying  money  under  the  belief   that  they  were  merely 
purchasing  exemption  from  the  obligation  to  conform.    He  held  that 
this  last  had  involved  a  worthy  renunciation  (of  money)  (Routh  Eel. 
Sac.  iv  21  ff.)«    But  others  looked  on  this  matter  more  sternly  (case  of 
Etecusa,  supra  p.  246  n.,  Benson  Cyprian  71-5).    The  number  of  the 
certificated  (libellatici)  at  Carthage  alone  mounted  to  thousands,  and 
points  to  wholesale  indifference  and  connivance  on  the  part  of  the 
magistrates.    The  libelli  are  dealt  with  fully  in  Benson's  Cyprian. 
(His  article  in  DCA  ii  s.v.  is  out  of  date.)    The  most  important 
references  are  the  following  (all  quoted  from  the  ed.  Hartel  in  CSEL) : 
Cyprian  Eps.  16,  2;  20,  2;  30,  3  ;  31,  7;  55,  3,  13,  14,  17,  26;  59,  12; 
67, 1,  6;  de  Lapsis  10, 15,  22,  24,  25,  27,  28,  35. 

2  See  Gebhardt  AMS  183  or  Benson  Cyprian  App.  B.    There  is 
a  second  certificate  now  at  Vienna  in  which  'I,  Isidore,  wrote  for 
them   as  unlearned,'  to   adopt   Harnack's  ingenious  commendation 


THE  EXPEEIENCES  OF  THE   PERSECUTED     341 

To  THE  COMMISSIONERS  OF  SACRIFICE  OF  THE  VILLAGE  OF  ALEX- 
ANDER'S ISLAND,  FROM  AURELIUS  DIOGENES,  THE  SON  OF  SATABUS,  OF 
THE  VILLAGE  OF  ALEXANDER'S  ISLAND,  AGED  72  ;  SCAB  ON  HIS  BIGHT 

EYEBROW. 

I  have  always  sacrificed  regularly  to  the  gods,  and  now,  in  your 
presence,  in  accordance  with  the  edict,  I  have  done  sacrifice,  and 
poured  the  drink-offering,  and  tasted  of  the  sacrifices,  and  I  request 
you  to  certify  the  same.  Farewell. 

HANDED  TN  BY  ME,  Aurelius  Diogenes.1 

I  CERTIFY  THAT  I   SAW   HlM  SACRIFICING,  .  .    .   HOnuS. 

(Magistrate's  signature  partly  obliterated.) 

IN  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF    THE    EMPEROR,  C^BSAE  GAIUS  MfiSSIUS  QtJINTUS  TRAJAHUS 

DECIUS,  Pius,  FELIX,  AUGUSTUS;  THE  SECOND  OF  THE  MONTH  EPITH.« 

For  others,  true  saints  of  God,  there  were,  as  for 
Simon  Peter,  moments  of  weakness  over  which  they 
wept  bitter  tears.  One  woman  tore  with  her  teeth  the 
tongue  which  had  denied  her  Lord.3  Some,  of  whom 
the  Shepherd  of  Hermas  tells  us,  '  became  cowards, 
and  were  lost  in  uncertainty,  and  considered  in  their 
hearts  whether  they  should  deny  or  confess,  and  yet 
finally  suffered  '  *  for  the  faith.  Of  such  was  a 
woman  at  Lyons,  Biblias,  who  at  first  denied,  but 
when  brought  out  by  the  authorities  to  bear  witness 
of  atheism  against  her  fellow-Christians,  '  awoke,  as 


of  the  damaged  papyrus  leaf  ['loYScwpos  ^p(a^a)  v^vep)  at>r(S>v)  ayp- 
(a/<i/iaTa>j/)  ;  see  Geb.  AMS  182  ;  and  for  the  general  average  of 
illiteracy  in  Egypt,  Bigg  Church's  Task  9  n.].  The  technical  Latin 
term  for  the  legal  procedure  involved  in  these  libelli  is  contestatio. 
See  also  Gregg  DP  153  ff.  for  this  matter. 

1  Diogenes  need  not  necessarily  be  regarded  as  a  recreant 
Christian  ;  though,  alas  !  recreant  Christians  abounded,  he  may  be  a 
mere  name  in  a  well-understood  game. 

•  Le.  June  26,  250. 

'  Cypriau  de  Lapsis  24.  Cyprian  uncharitably  ascribes  this  to 
an  *  unclean  spirit.' 

4  Herm.  Step.  Par.  ix  28. 


342        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY    CHURCH 

it  were,  out  of  a  deep  sleep,  and  was  added  to  the 
number  of  the  martyrs.' 1 

Of  cases  of  recantation,  one  of  the  most  interesting 
will  be  found  in  the  records  of  the  martyrdom  of 
Pionius  and  his  comrades.  Not  the  least  of  the 
tortures  of  that  brave  band  of  Christians  lay  in  the 
knowledge  that  their  bishop,  Euctemon,  had  fallen 
away  like  Judas.  Pionius  and  others  were  dragged 
to  the  temple  at  the  instigation,  it  was  said,  of 
Euctemon  himself,  in  the  hope  that  the  example  of 
their  superior  might  lead  to  their  own  fall.  On 
arrival  they  flung  themselves  to  the  ground,  but  six 
constables  held  Pionius  fast  and  brought  him  to  the 
altar,  struggling  and  shouting,  '  We  are  Christians.' 
There  the  apostate  bishop,  with  garland  on  his  fore- 
head, was  still  standing  beside  his  sacrifice,  part  of 
which  he  had  reserved  to  take  home  in  order  that  he 
might  hold  a  feast.  But  backsliders,  so  hardened  in 
their  crime,  were  not  common.2 

1  Euseb.  HE  v  (i),  25,  26 ;  Geb.  AMS  33.    Cf.  de  Lap.  13  (cases 
of  Castus  and  Aemilius  supra  237  n.). 

2  Geb.  AMS  109.    For  recanting  bishops,  cf.  also  the  interesting 
cases  of  Martial  of  Merida,  and  Basilides  of  Leon  in  Spain,  given  by 
Cyprian  Ep.  Ixvii.     The  cases  are  of  some  importance  in  the  Roman 
controversy.    See  Benson  Gyp.  233.     Cyprian  Ep.  54,  10  tells  us  of 
one  bishop,  Repostus  of  Tuburnuc  near  Carthage,  who  carried  back 
most  of  his  flock  to  paganism. 

Whether  Pope  Marcellinus  (f  304)  recanted,  but  afterwards 
repented  and  was  beheaded  (so  LP  i  162)  is  not  easy  to  settle.  See 
on  the  one  side  Duchesne  LP  i  Ixxiii-iv,  and  on  the  other  Lightfoot 
Clem,  i  293-5,  DCB  iii  804.  See  also  Bellinger  Papal  Fables  s.v. 
Duchesne  pleads  that  the  idea  has  arisen  from  the  fact  that  the  pope 
who  ruled  from  296-304  was  called  confusedly  Marcellus  or  Marcel- 
linus. In  later  days  this  was  made  into  the  rule  of  two  different 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED     343 

VI 

We  must  bring  this  study  of  persecution  to  a  close. 
But  there  are  one  or  two  deductions  which  may  be 
gathered  on  which  a  word  is  advisable. 

In  the  Church,  as  in  the  world,  the  wheat  and  the 
tares  grow  together ;  the  image  of  gold  is  always 
mixed  with  clay.  So  it  has  proved  in  the  case  of  the 
martyrs.  The  danger  of  all  forms  of  self-renunciation 
is  the  mistaking  the  means  as  an  end  in  itself.  We 
see  examples  of  this  in  Monasticism  and  Puritanism ; 
and  the  same  thing  happened  in  the  early  Church. 
At  times  there  swept  over  all  sections  an  extravagant 
thirst  for  self-immolation,  and  Christians,  in  plain 
disregard  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  courted  death  with 
culpable  recklessness,  and  exalted  martyrdom  into 
the  one  royal  road  to  perfection.1 

popes,  one  Marcellinus,  the  other  Marcellus,  and  his  record  in  the  LP 
is  supplied  from  a  lost  Acta  Marcellini  of  an  undoubted  Diocletian 
martyr,  whose  tomb,  as  we  know,  was  much  visited.  The  explanation 
is  ingenious  but  scarcely  satisfactory,  as  the  two  are  distinguished  as 
early  as  the  Liberian  catalogue  (354 ;  Duchesne  LP  i  6)  though  un- 
doubtedly often  confused.  The  discovery  of  the  tomb  of  Maroellinus, 
whose  position,  though  carefully  indicated  (LP  i  162),  is  still,  I 
believe,  unknown,  might  clear  up  this  difficult  question. 

1  The  Church  denounced  the  courting  of  death  (Synod  Elvira  c. 
60),  but  popular  feeling  approved  (case  of  Romanus,  Euseb.  HP  2, 
Euplius,  supra  p.  275  &o.).  The  craving  for  martyrdom  was  one  of 
the  marks  of  Montanism,  from  which  Ignatius  Rom.  5  is  only 
narrowly  separated.  The  Church  also  allowed  flight  in  persecution, 
following  Matt,  x  23 ;  cf.  Cyprian  supra  p.  311,  who  gives  his  reasons 
in  Ep.  20.  To  flight  Tertullian  as  a  Montanist  was  bitterly  opposed 
(cf.  his  de  fuga  in  persecutione,  espec.  c.  11).  For  Augustine's 
decision  see  Ep.  228  (Ed.  Maur.  ii  830-5).  The  matter  was  a  sore 
perplexity  to  Hus  (Letters  of  Hus  pp.  80-2). 


344        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

* "  What  did  they  suffer  ?  "  say  I.  "  Listen,"  saith  she.  "  Stripes, 
imprisonments,  great  tribulations,  crosses,  wild  beasts,  for  the  Name's 
sake.  Therefore  to  them  belongs  the  right  side  of  the  holiness  of 
God,  to  them  and  to  all  who  shall  suffer  for  the  Name.  But  for  the 
rest  is  the  left  side  "  '  (Herm.  Shep.  Vis.  iii  2). 

By  martyrdom — 

the  frail  becomes  the  perfect,  rapt 
From  glory  of  pain  to  glory  of  joy.1 

'  Let  me  be  given  to  the  wild  beasts,'  cries 
Ignatius,  '  for  through  them  I  can  attain  unto  God.' 2 
By  martyrdom  '  all  sins  were  healed.' 8  Persecution 
was  the  '  second  baptism  in  blood  which  stands  in 
lieu  of  fontal  baptism  when  that  has  not  been 
received,  and  restores  it  when  lost.' 4  A  certificate 
from  a  martyr,  transferring,  so  to  speak,  his  merit  to 
another,  not  always  specifically  named,  was  looked 
upon  by  the  lapsed  as  sufficient  pardon  for  their 
denial  of  their  Lord,  a  door  of  repentance,  as  Cyprian 
complained,  '  very  wide  indeed,' 5  a  cause  of  much 
trouble  to  the  early  Church,  especially  in  North  Africa, 
and  which  led  in  later  times  to  further  erroneous 
developments  of  the  doctrine  of  Indulgences. 

Materialism,  in  one  or  other  of  its  many  forms,  is 
ever  the  great  enemy  against  which  the  spiritual  has 
to  fight ;  and  of  all  forms  of  materialism  the  most 
dangerous,  because  the  most  insidious,  is  that  which 

1  Browning,  Ring  and  Boolt,  iv  78. 

2  Bom.  4 ;  Polyc.  7.    Cf.  supra  pp.  337-8. 

3  The  earliest  definite  statement  that  I  have  met  with  is  in 
Hermas  Shep.  Par.  ix  28.    The  idea  figures  largely  in  the  last  letters 
of  Hus.    See  my  Letters  of  Hus,  p.  268. 

4  Tertull.  Baptism  16. 

•  On  these  troubles  see  Benson's  Cyprian  89  ff.,  156  ff.,  176  ff. 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED      345 

entrenches  itself  within  the  Church  itself.  Unfortun- 
ately nothing  more  assisted  the  growing  materialism 
in  spiritual  life  in  its  worst  forms  than  the  excessive 
regard  felt  by  the  Church  for  her  martyrs.  When 
Gregory  Thaumaturgus  began  the  system  of  substi- 
tuting for  pagan  feasts  wakes  over  the  remains  of 
martyrs,  he  struck  a  blow,  unconscious  but  profound, 
as  we  may  see  from  the  later  mediaeval  corruptions, 
at  spiritual  life  itself.  From  this  to  the  vast  system 
of  the  veneration  of  relics  for  their  own  sakes,  and 
the  attributing  to  them  every  conceivable  form  of 
miraculous  power,  was  but  a  step,  the  disasters  of 
which  are  writ  large  in  the  whole  history  of  the 
Church.  The  apotheosis  against  which  the  martyrs 
had  protested  in  the  case  of  the  emperors,  was  now 
introduced  into  the  Church  in  the  guise  of  semi-divine 
apostles  and  saints.  Even  Lucian  had  noted  the 
danger,  as  we  see  from  his  sneer  that  after  his  death 
Peregrinus  passed  as  a  god  among  the  Christians.1 

But  to  dwell  on  these  things  is  an  ungrateful  task. 
Eather  let  us  turn  to  the  wreath  of  gold  which  the 
martyrs  laid  at  the  feet  of  the  crucified  Christ. 
Purposeless  renunciation,  the  renunciation  of  dervish 
or  fakir,  can  never  appeal  to  the  Western  world. 
But  the  renunciation  of  the  martyrs  was  neither 
purposeless  nor  self-centred.  As  their  name  shows, 
they  were  '  witnesses ' ; 2  as  the  needle  turns  to  the 

1  Lucian  PP  40  ff.    Cf.  the  fears  of  the  pagans  at  Smyrna  as  to 
the  dead  Polycarp  (Mart.  Polyc.  17). 

2  It  is  difficult  to  say  at  what  date  pdprvs,  a  '  witness,'  becomes 
technical  and  must  be  translated  as  '  martyr.'     Cf.  Clem.  Rom.  Car. 


346        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EABLY  CHURCH 

Pole,  BO  they  must  point,  not  to  themselves,  but  to 
another.  Every  martyr's  death  was  an  emphatic 
y  uttered  in  a  language  that  all  could  understand. 


*  See  Socrates,'  exclaims  Justin  Martyr,  '  no  one  trusted  in  him  so 
as  to  die  for  his  doctrine  :  but  in  Christ  ...  not  only  philosophers 
and  scholars  believed,  but  also  artisans,  and  people  illiterate' 
(II  Apol.  10). 

They  made  this  manifest  by  '  despising  both  glory 
and  fear  and  death.'  We  may  own  with  Tertullian  1 
that  the  argument,  historically  considered,  is  not 
perfectly  sound.  But  in  reality  it  fitted  in  not  merely 
with  the  experience  of  Justin  Martyr  himself,  but 
with  that  of  thousands  of  others. 

'  For  I  myself,  when  I  was  contented  with  the  doctrines  of  Plato, 
and  heard  the  Christians  slandered,  yet  saw  them  fearless  of  death 
and  of  everything  that  men  count  terrible,  felt  that  it  was  impossible 
that  these  men  could  be  living,  as  was  reputed,  in  wickedness  and 
mere  pleasure  '  (II  Apol.  12). 

We  see  this  power  of  conviction  of  which  Justin 
speaks  in  the  records,  too  numerous  to  be  later 
inventions,  of  those  who  were  won  to  Christ  by 
witnessing  the  martyr's  death,  or  by  having  the 
custody  of  the  prisoners  in  their  last  hours.2  One 
illustration  may  suffice  —  that  of  a  young  officer  of  the 

6  (supra  p.  36)  ;  Apoc.  ii  13  (R.V.  "  witness  ")  ;  and  Ep.  of  Church  of 
Lyons  (Euseb.  HE  v  2  Gob.  AMS  42)  as  loci  dassici. 

1  Tert.  Apol.  46.    He  was  thinking  perhaps  of  Peregrinus  (supra 
p.  331  n).     Cf.  ad  Mart.  4  and  Tatian  adv  Graec.  25.     But  Peregrinus 
witnesses  in  a  way  to  the  power  of  martyrdom.     He  obtained,  In 
consequence,  a  cult  at  Parium  (Athenag.  Pica  26). 

2  E.g.  Basilides,  in  the  case  of  Potainiaena  (Euseb.  HE  vi  5); 
Alban  of  Verulam  (supra  p.  271),  and  the  unnamed  companion  of  St. 
James  (mpra  p.  25). 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED  347 

court  in  attendance  on  Galerius,  who  was  so  impressed 
by  the  faith  of  the  confessors  at  Nicomedeia  that  he 
asked  them  the  secret  of  their  courage,  and,  on 
receiving  instruction,  when  next  the  Christians  were 
examined,  stepped  forward  and  requested  Galerius  to 
make  a  note  of  his  name  among  theirs.  'Are  you 
mad  ? '  asked  Galerius.  '  Do  you  wish  to  throw  away 
your  life  ?  '  'I  am  not  mad,'  was  the  reply.  '  I  was 
mad  once,  but  am  now  in  my  right  mind/  After 
many  tortures  he  won  his  crown.  In  his  case,  as  in 
countless  conversions  in  every  age,  it  was  not  full- 
orbed  knowledge  of  Christian  truth,  but  one  ray  of 
light  that  wrought  the  change.  The  confession 
*  Jesus  is  Lord  '  was  sufficient. 

The  martyrs  also  were  witnesses  to  a  creed,  simple 
it  is  true,  but  none  the  less  definite  and  real.  They 
did  not  lay  down  their  lives  for  vague  generalities, 
wider  visions,  or  larger  hopes.  They  knew  not  only 
in  whom,  but  in  what  they  believed,  and  bore  witness 
before  judge  and  mob,  oftentimes  with  their  dying 
breath,  to  the  vitalizing  power  of  a  concrete  and 
definite  faith.  In  the  later  stories  of  the  martyrs 
there  is  a  tendency  to  amplify  their  creeds,  to  turn 
them  from  their  simplicity  into  argumentative  and 
theological  systems.1  In  the  earlier  records,  however, 
faith  is  not  a  philosophy,  but  dwells  rather  on  the 
central  truths 2  which  to  the  martyr  seemed  so  all- 
important  that  for  them  he  would  lay  down  life  itself 

1  Illustrations  abound.     One  of  the  best  will  be  found  in  the 
Acts  of  Callutratus,  Conybeare  MEG  300  ff. 

2  Conybeare  MEC  33,  from  the  silence  of  Apollunius  (supra  p.  21 8  n.) 


348        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EAKLY  CHURCH 

Prominent  among  these  was  the  belief  in  his  own 
immortality  as  the  result  of  the  resurrection  of  his 
Lord.1  But  the  central  '  witness  '  of  the  martyrs  was 
to  the  living  reality  of  the  person  of  Christ,  and  to 
'the  reign  of  the  Eternal  King.'2  In  bearing  this 
testimony  they  shared  the  power  of  such  beliefs  to 
exalt  human  nature.  By  his  death  the  martyr  proved 
that  man  "  was  more  than  a  dull  jest."  An  instance 
will  illustrate  our  meaning.  Let  the  reader  contrast 
the  typical  slave  as  depicted  in  the  pages  of  Plautus 
or  Terence  with  the  slave  that  we  see,  not  once  nor 
twice,  ennobling  the  annals  of  the  Church.  The 
slave  of  Terence  may  be  exceptional — in  his  wit  he 
certainly  was — and  so  also  was  the  slave-martyr.  But 
this  does  not  alter  our  argument,  the  contrast  of  the 
ideals  they  represent.  In  the  records  of  slave-martyrs 
we  have  the  witness  to  a  social  revolution  going  on 
in  the  world,  the  depth  and  meaning  of  which  was 
probably  hidden  even  from  the  Christians  themselves. 
'  And  you  too,  Evelpistus,  what  are  you  ? '  said  the 
judge  Eusticus,  the  friend  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  to  one 

in  his  simple  defence  and  creed,  infers  "  that  the  martyr  had  not 
heard  of  the  legend  of  the  birth  of  Christ  from  a  virgin."  Arguments 
from  silence  are  notoriously  dangerous  ;  while  the  undoubted  silence 
of  martyrs  on  this  matter  (though  see  Ada  Theclaec.  1;  Geb.  AMS 
p.  215)  might  well  be  due  to  a  correct  unwillingness  to  degrade  their 
Saviour  by  arguments  or  statements  which  would  probably  be  mis- 
understood by  heathen  audiences  well  versed  in  the  licentious  tales 
of  their  gods.  Moreover,  the  statement  of  Conybeare  breaks  down 
when  tested  by  wider  literature.  "  No  passage  made  so  deep  an 
impression  as  the  birth-narratives  in  Matthew,  and  especially  in 
Luke"  (Harnack  ECi  115  n.). 

Supra  p.  327.  2  See  supra  p.  103. 


THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED     349 

of  the  companions  of  Justin,  a  slave  in  Caesar's 
household.  '  I  am  a  Christian,'  was  the  reply,  '  set 
free  by  Christ.' 1 

Nowhere  do  we  see  this  more  beautifully  brought 
out  than  in  the  case  of  Blandina,  the  slave-girl 
of  Lyons.  Even  her  mistress  had  feared  for  her 
'  that  she  would  not  be  able  to  make  a  bold  confession 
on  account  of  the  weakness  of  her  body.'  But  after 
the  tormentors  had  tortured  her  '  from  morning  until 
evening,  until  they  were  tired  and  weary,  confessing 
that  they  were  baffled,  for  they  had  no  other  tortures 
that  they  could  apply  to  her,'  her  fellow-Christians 
realized  that  '  in  Blandina  Christ  showed  that  the 
things  which  to  man  appear  mean  and  deformed  and 
contemptible  are  with  God  deemed  worthy  of  great 
honour.'  So  when  finally  she  was 

'  hung  up,  fastened  to  a  stake  in  the  shape  of  a  cross,  as  food  for  the 
wild  beasts  that  were  let  loose  against  her,  she  inspired  the  others 
with  great  eagerness,  for  in  the  combat  of  their  sister  they  saw  Him 
who  was  crucified  for  them.  .  .  .  And  after  she  had  been  scourged, 
and  exposed  to  the  wild  beasts,  and  roasted  in  the  iron  chair,  she 
was  at  last  enclosed  in  a  net  and  cast  before  a  bull.' 

So  Blandina  passed  over  '  as  one  invited  to  a 
marriage  supper,'  and  sat  down  with  Vettius  Epa- 
gathus,  the  rich  young  nobleman,  in  the  King's 
presence.2 

The  consideration  of  the  triumph  of  Blandina, 
and  of  the  hundreds  of  others  of  whom  she  is  but 
a  representative,  leads  us  to  ask  a  question?  We 
do  so  in  the  words  of  a  great  master  of  English : 

1  Gebhardt  AMS  p.  20.  2  Bee  sypra  p.  296. 


350        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

"  Whence  came  this  tremendous  spirit,  scaring,  nay  offending,  the 
criticism  of  our  delicate  days?  Does  Gibbon  think  to  sound  the 
depths  of  eternal  ocean  with  the  tape  and  measuring-rod  of  merely 
literary  philosophy  ?  " l 

We  would  quote  in  answer  the  wise  summary  of 
a  recent  secular  historian,  whose  study  of  the 
principate  of  Nero  has  led  him  to  survey  the  conflict 
and  its  issue : 

We  may  not  under-rate  the  "  secondary  causes  "  of  Christianity's 
growth.  But  neither  may  we  neglect  the  external  circumstances 
which  promised  only,  it  might  seem,  too  surely  to  destroy  it 
altogether.  Persecution  may  be  a  sign  of  strength.  It  is  hardly  a 
cause  of  strength  when  it  is  cruel  and  persistent.  .  .  .  Persecution 
may  kill  a  religion  and  destroy  it  utterly,  if  that  religion's  strength 
lies  only  in  its  numbers,  by  a  simple  process  of  exhaustion.  The 
opinion  that  no  belief,  no  moral  conviction,  can  be  eradicated  from 
a  country  by  persecution  is  a  grave  popular  fallacy. 

Christianity,  we  conclude,  answered  man's  needs  and  his  cry  for 
aid,  articulate  and  inarticulate,  conscious  or  unconscious,  in  the  early 
days  of  the  Roman  Empire,  as  did  no  other  creed  or  philosophy. 
When,  however,  we  face  soberly  the  questions  whence  came  such 
a  creed  into  existence  which  could  satisfy  human  wants,  as  none 
other  before  or  since,  and  how  came  the  new,  despised,  and  persecuted 
religion  to  overcome  perils  and  dangers  of  a  terrible  kind,  with  no 
external  agency  in  its  favour  and  every  external  power  ranged 
against  it,  we  do  not  feel  inclined  to  deduce  the  rapidity  of  its 
growth  and  its  victory  over  all  opponents  from  a  mere  balance  of 
its  internal  advantages  over  its  external  disqualifications.  We  admit 
the  vigorous  secondary  causes  of  its  growth,  but  we  have  left  its 
origin  unexplained,  and  cannot  but  see  as  well  the  vigour  and 
strength  of  the  foes  which  willed  its  destruction  and  powerfully 
dissuaded  from  its  acceptance.  And  there  exists  for  us,  as  historians, 
no  secondary  nor  human  cause  or  combination  of  causes  sufficient 
to  account  for  the  triumph  of  Christianity.2 

1  Newman  Grammar  of  Assent  483.    The  context  is  magnificent 
declamation,  though  its  instances  are  not  always  strictly  historical. 
The  reference  is,  of  course,  to  Gibbon's  famous  o.  15. 

2  Henderson  PN  357.    The  whole  of  the  chapter  ie  well  worth 
reading. 


THE  EXPEKIENCES  OF  THE  PERSECUTED      351 

There  is  but  one  sufficient  explanation :  the  new 
religion  descended  '  out  of  heaven  from  God.' 

We  have  pointed  out  already  that  the  martyrs 
were  witnesses  to  the  absoluteness  of  the  Christian 
faith,  that  the  religion  of  Jesus  would  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  current  syncretism.1  Time  after  time 
we  find  judges,  either  actuated  by  mercy  or  prompted 
by  their  "philosophy,"  striving  to  draw  the  martyrs 
into  syncretistic  admissions  which  would  have  given 
them  their  liberty.  But  the  martyrs  refused  to  pur- 
chase life  by  any  compromise  between  their  faith  and 
'the  world.'  Well  would  it  be  for  the  Church  to-day  if 
she  could  learn  the  lesson  they  taught.  The  fashion- 
able syncretism  of  the  empire  has  passed  away ;  men 
are  no  longer  intent  on  the  identification  of  the  gods 
of  Greece  and  Eome.  In  its  place  we  see  a  more 
dangerous  fusion,  the  identification  of  the  world  and 
the  Church,  the  syncretism  of  material  and  spiritual 
things.  We  need  once  more  to  catch  the  martyr- 
spirit,  a  belief  in  the  absoluteness  of  the  Christian 
faith  translated  into  facts  which  shall  make  the 
Church  '  a  peculiar  people/  whose  strength  does  not 
lie  in  any  blending  of  light  and  darkness,  but  in  her 
renunciation  of  and  aloofness  from  '  the  world.' 

The  resolute  renunciation  of  the  world,  of  which 
the  martyrs  were  the  crown  and  symbol,  did  more 
than  anything  else  to  make  the  Church  strong  to 
conquer  the  world.  The  martyrs  were  witnesses  to 
the  truth  that  only  by  renouncing  the  world  can  we 
really  do  anything  for  it.  Critics  of  different  schools 

1  Supra  pp.  85-6. 


352        PERSECUTION  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

have  found  fault  with  primitive  Christianity  for  being 
too  unworldly  and  ascetic,  and  have  pointed  to  the 
more  excellent  mean  of  modern  times.  But  twentieth- 
century  ideals  of  renunciation  would  never  have 
effected  the  gigantic  revolution  which  sapped  and 
dissolved  gigantic  polytheisms,  and  overthrew  the 
Eoman  Empire  itself.  Vicisti  Galilaee  is  not  merely 
the  self-conscious  cry  of  a  dying  paganism ;  it  is  the 
splendid  testimony  wrung  from  reluctant  lips  to  the 
power  of  the  ideals  of  the  Cross. 

For  the  obedience  unto  death  of  those  who  followed 
the  Lamb  whithersoever  He  went,  partook  also  of 
the  persuasiveness  of  the  supreme  Sacrifice.  In  the 
noble  army  of  martyrs  we  salute  the  conquerors  of 
the  world.  In  the  fine  figure  of  Justin  the  Church 
was  a  vine  which,  the  more  it  bled  under  the  pruning- 
knife,  the  more  fruitful  it  became.  '  The  more  men 
multiply  our  sufferings,  the  more  does  the  number  of 
the  faithful  grow.'  *  For  in  the  words  of  the  dying 
martyrs  men  heard  the  voice  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
*  convicting  the  world  of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of 
judgement.'2  The  proud  boast  of  Tertullian  was 
correct.  '  The  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  indeed  the 
seed  of  the  Church.  Dying  we  conquer.  The  moment 
we  are  crushed,  that  moment  we  go  forth  victorious.' 3 

1  Justin  Dial.  110.    Cf.  Tert.  Soap.  5. 

2  John  xvi  8.    Cf.  Cyprian  Ep,  8,  « Vox  plena  Spiritus  Sancti  de 
martyria  ore  prorupit.1 

3  Tert.  Apol  50. 


O  God,  to  whom  the  faithful  dead 
Still  live,  united  to  their  Head, 

Their  Lord  and  ours  the  same ; 
For  all  Thy  saints,  to  memory  dear, 
Departed  in  Thy  faith  and  fear, 

We  bless  Thy  holy  name. 

By  the  same  grace  upheld,  may  wa 
So  follow  those  who  followed  Thee, 

As  with  them  to  partake 
The  full  reward  of  heavenly  bliss. 
Merciful  Father  1  grant  us  this, 

For  our  Redeemer's  sake. 


APPENDIX  A 

NOTES  ON  THE  DATES  AND  AUTHORSHIP    OF 
CERTAIN  DISPUTED  WORKS 

N.B. — These  no'es  are  not  intended  as  a  discussion  of  the  matters 
concerned,  but  as  a  brief  indication  of  the  position  assumed  in  the 
Lecture  in  the  use  of  certain  most  important  documents,  and  of  the 
reasons. 

I.  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

(a)  PHILIPPIANS.    See  supra  p.  35  n. 

(b)  II  TIMOTHY.    Whatever  the  date  and  whoever  the  author, 

I  think  the  genuineness  of  its  traditions  re  St.  Paul's  trial 
(whether  first  or  second  is  another  matter)  must  be 
conceded.  See  Moffatt  HNT  561,  and  supra  p.  38  n.  1. 

(c)  EP.  PETER.     This  important  Ep.  proves  a  general  persecution 

(i  6,  iv  12, 16)  in  Asia  Minor  north  of  the  Taurus  (i  1 ;  note 
especially  Bithynia  and  cf.  supra  p.  210  n.),  and  elsewhere 
(v  9).  The  Christians  suffer  '  for  the  Name,'  but  not  the 
Name  alone  (iv  14).  They  are  the  objects  of  vile  slanders 
(ii  12,  15,  iii  14-16,  iv  4,  15)  as  well  as  of  considerable 
zeal  on  the  part  of  the  officials  (v  8,  iii  15  Gk.).  As 
regards  the  slanders,  the  Christians  should  be  circumspect 
(ii  15-16,  iii  16-17,  iv  15).  The  persecution  will  be  short, 
for  the  end  of  all  things  is  at  hand  (iv  7,  13,  v  4). 

The  important  matter  for  us  is  the  date.    There  are 
three  main  theories : 

(i.)  Ramsay  CUE  279-95  dates  in  75-80.  The  evidence 
in  favour  ('the  Name')  seems  to  me  slight.  See 
supra  p.  55  n.,  and  cf.  Moffatt  HNT  245.  For 
Harnack's  view  83-93  (GAL  i  457)  see  Chase's 
criticism  DB  iii  786. 
(ii.)  As  late  as  Trajan.  This  rests  on  a  mistaken  and 


APPENDIX  A  855 

abandoned  hypothesis.    See  supra  52  n.  and  of. 
Moffatt  ENT  246-7. 

(iii.)  Written  by  St.  Peter  in  the  summer  of  64.  So 
Lightf.  Clem,  ii  498,  Hort,  JC  154-5,  Farrar  EDO 
81,  Sanday  and  Headlam  Eomans  xxxi  n.,  Hender- 
son PN  439.  This  view  is  the  one  which  seems 
to  me  best  to  explain  the  circumstances.  The 
objection  from  the  silence  of  II  Tim.  re  v  the  Name  ' 
(though  cf.  II  Tim.  ii  8)  is  overcome  by  not 
pressing  too  much  its  technical  meaning. 

Zahn  Ein.  ii  17-27,  Kenan,  Bartlet  AA  306  n., 
Chase  in  DB  iii  791,  Bigg  Ep.  Peter  87,  date  before 
the  Great  Fire.  But  if  so  St.  Paul  cannot  have 
been  acquitted  (cf.  Kamsay  PT  308),  and  the 
persecution  must  have  been  due  to  the  Jews  alone. 
I  prefer  to  bring  in  Tac.  xv  44,  and  to  believe  in 
the  acquittal  of  St.  Paul. 

(d)  II  PETER.     The  absence  of  all  reference  to  persecution  is  so 

remarkable,  considering  the  date  of  I  Ep.  Peter,  that  we 
are  driven  to  conclude  either 
(i.)  That  it  is  really  anterior  to  I  Peter.    (So  apparently 

Bigg  Ep.  Peter  215,  though  cf.  289  on  ib.  iii  1.) 
(ii.)  Or  if  this  explanation  be  rejected,  as  by  most  scholars 
(Moffatt  HNT  596),  to  surrender  its  Petrine  author- 
ship. 

(iii.)  Or  to  adopt  Kamsay's  view  of  the  date  of  I  Peter ; 
already  rejected. 

(e)  EP.  HEBREWS.     Chaps,  x-xiii   undoubtedly  refer  to  some 

persecution.  Harnack  conjectures  that  x  32,  33  (0eaT/n- 
f(fyi€j/oi)  refers  to  Nero's  scenic  punishments  (mpra  p.  286). 
So  also  Kenan  I? Ant.  163  n.,  217  n.  But  this  is  rejected 
by  Lightf.  Clem.  6,  largely,  one  feels,  in  the  interest  of 
his  proposed  new  reading.  '  Those  from  Italy '  (xiii  24, 
cf.  Apoc.  xviii  4)  may  refer  to  fugitives  from  Nero's  per- 
secution (Kenan  o.c.  205  n.),  and  the  Sfogtot  rcreAeicfyiej/oi 
(xii  23)  to  his  victims.  But  the  date,  authorship,  and 
persons  addressed  are  so  uncertain  that  I  have  not  built 
any  conclusion  upon  this  Epistle. 

(/)  APOCALYPSE.  This  work  is  of  such  importance  for  my 
Bubject  that  I  give  a  full  notice.  It  proves  severe  persecution 
in  Asia  (i  9,  ii  10,  iii  10,  vii  14,  xii  11-17,  xvi  6),  and  in 
Home  (xvii  6,  x?iii  24),  the  ground  of  which  apparently 

2  A  2 


356  APPENDIX  A 

was  Caesar-worship  (ii  13,  xiii  15,  18,  xv  2,  xvi  5-10,  xvii 
6,  xix  20,  xx  4).  Some  of  the  victims  (?  honestiores,  supra 
p,  64  n.)  were  beheaded  (xx  4),  but  there  is  no  clear 
mention  of  burning  (?  xvi  8,  9).  The  Christians  have 
Buffered  for  '  the  Name '  (ii  13,  of.  I  Pet.  iv  14  and  supra) 
and  will  suffer  even  more  in  the  future  (ii  10,  iii  10,  vi 
9-11,  xiii  7). 

The  great  question  is  the  date.  Two  theories : 
(i.)  Written  under  the  Flavians  (Vespasian,  Mommsen 
PEE  ii  199  ;  a  date  not  far  removed  from  (ii)  infra\ 
probably  Domitian.  So  the  older  commentators 
and  recent  critics,  e.g.  Bury  Gibbon  ii  25  n., 
Harnack,  Eamsay  CUE  and  SC,  Hardy  CRG  96, 
Zahn  Ein.  ii  582-616,  Moffatt  HNT  460,  Bousset 
in  EB  207,  DB  iv  259,  and  Swete  Apoc.  xcv  f. 

The  chief  arguments  in  favour  are :  (a)  the 
testimony  of  Irenaeus  Haer.  v  30,  3, '  almost  in  our 
own  day,  towards  the  end  of  Domitian's  reign '  (cf. 
Euseb.  HE  iii  18,  v  8).  But  this  may  be  the  date 
of  publication  ;  see  supra  p.  46  n.  It  has  also  been 
suggested  (Simcox,  Selwyn  CP  29  ff.)  that  this 
refers  to,  or  arose  from  a  confusion  of,  Domitian'a 
very  arbitrary  regency  in  Rome,  Jan.  to  Oct.,  70, 
while  Vespasian  was  coming  from  the  East  (Suet. 
Dom.  1,  Tac.  Hist,  iv  2,  11).  (0)  Stress  is  laid 
upon  the  developed  character  of  Caesar- worship, 
and  the  wide  extent  of  the  persecution,  which 
demand  a  late  date.  But  these  are  the  questions 
in  dispute,  in  the  solution  of  which  Apoc.  is  no 
email  part  of  the  evidence  (supra  94  ff). 
(ii.)  Due  to  the  persecution  of  Nero,  and  written  shortly 
after  his  death.  Kenan,  Farrar  EDO  404-36, 
Selwyn  CP  215  ff.,  Henderson  PN  439  ff.,  and  many 
others.  To  this  solution  I  incline  as  the  only 
alternative  to  composite  elements  and  authorship. 

The  arguments  in  favour  are :  (a)  Kenan's  argu- 
ment from  the  list  of  emperors  (xvii  10, 11) ;  im- 
possible for  Vespasian  unless  we  omit  Galba,  Otho, 
Vitellius,  while  for  Domitian  the  list  must  be  more 
etrained.  (0)  The  number  of  the  Beast.  See 
Kenan  L'Ant.  415  ff.  In  spite  of  Salmon's  fun 
(NT  224  ff.),  this  seems  the  beet  solution  yet 


APPENDIX  A  357 

proposed.  (7)  The  book,  at  any  rate  a  portion, 
was,  'probably,  written  before  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  (xi  1-13).  (S)  Its  intense  hatred  of  the 
Empire  would  suit  well  a  date  while  the  great  war 
with  the  Jews  was  still  in  progress,  (e)  The 
references  to  Pseudo-Nero  (xiii  3,  12,  xvii  8),  who 
first  appeared  about  Jan.,  69  (Tac.  Hut.  i  2,  ii  8 ; 
Suet.  Nero  57,  hints  at  same.  See  Henderson  PN 
415-21,  Renan  L'Ant.  316-20,  352  n.,  457).  There 
was  a  second  pretender  in  the  reign  of  Titus 
(Momm.  PEE  ii  62-4),  and  a  third  in  88  (Suet. 
Nero  57.  Cf.  also  on  this  matter  Orac.  Sibyl,  iv 
119  ff.,  137  ff. ;  v  145  ff.,  363  ff. ;  xiii  122).  The  first 
Nero  redivivus  seems  to  fit  best.  (£)  The  song  of 
the  burning  of  Homo  (xviii)  seems  a  memory,  too 
realistic  to  be  remote,  of  the  fire  of  64.  But  the 
absence  of  any  reference  to  the  burning  (xviii  24 
is  indefinite)  of  Christians  (Tac.  Ann.  xv  44)  would 
seem  to  show  that  the  author  was  not  himself  in 
Rome  (supra  45  n.  2  fin). 

The  question  of  the  author  of  the  Apoc.  is  not 
of  such  importance  to  my  subject  as  its  date.  But, 
provided  an  early  date  is  assigned  to  the  Apoc., 
I  do  not  see  that  the  impossibility  of  its  author 
being  the  writer  of  the  Gospel  is  established,  in 
spite  of  the  great  contrast  in  grammar  and  ideas 
(well  set  out  in  Selwyn  CP  o.  5,  224-5,  258-63). 
Ramsay's  combination  of  a  late  date  with  the 
authorship  of  the  Gospel  (SC  passim)  seems  to  me 
absolutely  impossible  (of.  J.  H.  Moulton  Grammar 
NT  (1906)  9  n.).  But  in  any  case  the  difficulties  of 
assigning  the  same  authorship  are  great. 

If  the  early  date  for  Apoc.  be  surrendered,  I 
should  be  inclined  to  surrender  the  Jewish  author- 
ship of  the  Apoc.  rather  than  of  the  Gospel  (so  Drum- 
mond  FG  442),  and  to  assign  Apoc.  to  Elder  John 
(as  Euseb.  HE  iii  24,  25,  Dionysius  of  Alexandria 
in  Euseb.  HE  vii  25).  Certainly  the  references  in 
the  Apoc.  to  Apostles  (xix  14,  xviii  20)  are  hard 
to  reconcile  with  the  author  being  one  of  them. 
There  is  much  to  be  said,  also,  for  Vischer's  theory 
that  Apoc.  i-iii  was  published  later  than  iv-xxii, 


358  APPENDIX  B 

and  that  Apoc.  embodies  composite  sources.  This 
would  combine  the  Neronic  references  and  the 
Domitianic  date  of  recast.  (Cf.  supra  46  n.,  Selwyn 
CP  184-94,  Moffatt  JTOT  461-2.  Swete^poc.  clxxx 
leaves  the  authorship  an  open  question.) 

II.  OTHER  WRITERS. 

(a)  Ep.  CLEMENT.    Supra  p.  206  n. 

(&)  EP.  IGNATIUS.  I  see  no  reasons  to  doubt  the  conclusions  of 
Liglitfoot.  For  the  date  see  supra  p.  337  n.  Harnack,  who 
rejects  the  Ignatian  authorship,  dates  but  a  few  years  later. 

(c)  Ep.  BARNABAS.    Supra  p.  116  n. 

(d)  EP.  DIOGNETUS.     Supra  p.  168  n. 

(/)  SHEP.  OF  HERMAS.    Supra  p.  219  n.  3. 

(0)  MINUO.  FELIX.     Octavius.    Supra  p.  221. 

(/*)  JUSTIN  I  Apol.  Since  the  investigations  of  Volkmar  and 
F.  G.  Keuyon,  the  older  date  (138)  has  been  abandoned  for 
shortly  after  150  (Harnack  GAL  i  274  ff.).  The  so-called 
II  Apol.  is  not  much  later.  See  also  supra  227  n.  I  (a). 

(&)  LACTANTIUS  de  Mort.  Persccutorum.  That  Lactantius  was  not 
the  author  of  this  work  was  suspected  by  Gibbon  (cxx  n.  40), 
and  has  been  maintained  by  Brandt.  As  the  work  is  of 
great  importance  for  the  study  of  Diocletian's  persecution, 
the  matter  is  of  some  moment.  The  arguments  of  Brandt 
are  carefully  investigated  by  Bury  (Gibbon  ii  530-1),  who 
decides  in  favour  of  Lactantius  ;  date  314-5. 


APPENDIX  B 

THE  ALLEGED  MARTYRDOM  OF   ST.  JOHN  IN  A.D.  44 

N.B. — In  the  following  appendix  I  do  not  enter,  except  inci- 
dentally, into  questions  of  the  authorship  of  the  Gospel,  &c.  I  desire 
merely  to  state  briefly  the  facts  or  data  of  this  very  difficult  preliminary 
matter,  which  strikes  at  the  root  of  all  the  traditional  views,  viz.  that 
St.  John,  the  son  of  Zebedee,  perished  in  44  along  with  his  brother. 
Since  the  monograph  of  Schwarz  ( Ueber  den  Tod  der  Stihne  Zebedaei ; 
Berlin,  1904),  the  question  cannot  be  neglected,  especially  in  a  work 
that  deals  with  the  martyrdom  inter  alia  of  the  Apostles.  But  for  a 
fuller  investigation  of  the  problems  connected  with  St.  John  the 


APPENDIX  B  359 

student  must  refer  to  the  works  of  Harnack,  Bacon,  Schwarz,  Bousset, 
EB,  on  the  one  side,  and  Drummond  FG,  Sanday  Criticism  of  the 
Fourth  Gospel  (1905),  &c.,  on  the  other. 

I.  The  arguments  in  favour  of  the  alleged  martyrdom  are  the 
following  :  (a)  A  fragment  of  the  Icrropia  xpto-TtcwtK^  of  Philip  of  Side 
(c.  430),  published  by  De  Boor  in  TU  (1888)  v  (2)  170,  claims  for  it 
the  authority  of  Papias  (nairias  eV  rep  Seurepy  \6j(p  A^yet  '6n  ' 

6  6eo\6ryos  /col  'Ia/ccw$os  6  a5e\</>J>s  avrov  virb  'lov8at(i)v  av 
"  Papias  in  his  second  book  states  that  John  the  Divine  and  James 
his  brother  were  slain  by  Jews").  (&)  This  confirms  a  previously 
known  statement  of  George  the  Sinner  ("  Hamartolus  " ;  ninth  cen- 
tury), ed.  de  Boor  p.  447  to  the  same  effect,  (c)  Some  claim  an 
evident  allusion  in  Mark  x.  39  to  this  death  as  already  accomplished, 
at  the  time  when  St.  Mark's  Gospel  was  written. 

II.  On  this  evidence  we  may  remark  (a)  Philip  of  Side's  quotation 
can  scarcely  be  literal,  for  6  6fo\6jos  as  a  title  of  St.  John  cannot  have 
been  in  existence  as  early  as  Papias.    To  maintain  the  literal  accuracy 
of  this  sentence  leads  to  the  following  dilemma  :  St.  John  was  called 
'  the  divine '  because  of  his  writings,  yet  was  slain  in  44  before  he 
had  written  anything  (except  possibly  a  few  fragments  written  in  the 
reign  of  Caius,  afterwards  incorporated  into  an  anonymous  Apocalypse, 
to  which  his  name  in  consequence  became  attached).    (6)  But  if  the 
statement  be  not  a  literal  quotation,  the  confusion  may  be  on  the  part 
of  Philip  of  Side,  who  has  identified  an  otherwise  unknown  martyr- 
John  with  the  Apostle,    (c)  Nor  is  much  support  to  be  gained  from 
George  the  Sinner.    If  this  last  stood  alone,  it  could  be  explained, 
as  by  Lightfoot  (Essays  Supernal.  Eelig.  212),  by  a  lacuna,     (c?)  In 
any  case,  Philip  of  Side'  does  not  state  that  the  two  brothers  were 
martyred  together,  though  the  order  of  words  lends  itself  to  that 
interpretation.     We  may  date  the  death  of  this  John  at  the  hands 
'of  Jews'  (N.B.  not  of  'Iou5cuot, '  the  Jews,'  i.e.  of  Judea;  the  vaguer 
phrase  may  refer  to  Jews  of  Asia)  in  any  year  from  41  to  100,  and  in 
any  place,     (e)  The  whole,  in  fact,  reads  like  a  later  inference  from 
Mark  x  39,  where  the  two  are  coupled  together  in  *  drinking  the  cup.' 
In  the  case  of  a  careless  writer  such  as  Papias,  this  is  as  likely  as  a 
hypothesis  the  difficulties  of  which  are  enormous. 

III.  There  are  other  objections  to  the  early  martyrdom  of  St.  John, 
(a)  Gal  ii  9.  That  St.  Paul  is  here  speaking  of  the  Elder  John,  or  of 
John  Mark  (!),  seems  to  be  incredible.  (&)  The  silence  of  Acts  xii  2 
is  inexplicable  unless  we  assume  that  it  is  a  (purposely)  inaccurate 
account  written  to  bolster  up  a  later  tradition  in  the  interests  of  the 
fourth  Gospel,  (c)  The  fact  that  in  this  case  all  the  Johannine 


360  APPENDIX  B 

literature  is  pseudonymous.  II  and  III  Ep.  John  and  Apoc.  may  be 
written  by  another,  perhaps  by  '  the  Elder.'  But  I  Ep.  John  and  the 
Gospel  seem  to  me  to  be  written  by  the  Apostle ;  at  any  rate,  the 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  supposing  that  the  early  Church  mistook  so 
great  a  writer  for  one  who  had  perished  almost  unnoticed  half  a 
century  before  seem  to  me  overwhelming  (on  this  see  Drummond 
FQ  especially  191-3).  (tZ)  In  this  connection  we  may  note  the 
evidence  of  the  modern  name  of  Ephesus  (Ayasaluk,  a  corruption  of 
ayios  Qeo\6yos).  Towns  do  not  receive  their  names  from  anonymous 
writers.  On  the  contrary,  to  identify  this  writer  with  the  Elder  John 
leaves  more  difficulties  than  it  solves,  as  Drummond  FG  has  shown. 

IV.  Against  this  almost  solitary  statement  of  Philip  of  Side  with 
all  its  difficulties  we  must  place  the  positive  evidence  that  a  John 
died  a  natural  death  at  Ephesus  in  the  reign  of  Trajan,  whom  Irenaeus 
and  others  in  a  position  to  know  identified  with  the  son  of  Zcbedee. 
On  this  matter  (excellently  discussed  in  Drummond  FG  c.  5),  the 
following  are  the  most  important  loci  classici :  (a)  John  xxi  22,  23 ; 
Irenaeus  flaer  ii  (22)  5 ;  iii  (1)  1 ;  (3)  4 ;  v  (33)  4 ;  especially  the 
letter  of  Irenaeus  to  Florinus  in  Euseb.  HE  v  20.     See  also  the  letter 
of  Irenaeus  to  Victor  bishop  of  Rome  (189-99)  in  Euseb.  HE  v  24. 
Dionysius  of  Alexandria  (c.  170)  in  Euseb.  HE  vii  25.    (&)  The 
tradition  of  the  Syrian  Churches  ;  Drummond  FG  233. 

V.  The  only  orthodox  writer  who  states  that  a  John  of  Ephesus 
died  as  *  a  martyr '  (for  by  195  the  meaning  of  /jidprvs  was  more  than 
'  witness')  is  Polycrates,  bishop  of  Ephesus  (c.  195),  in  Euseb.  HE  in 
31  and  v  24.    He  mentions  among  the  '  great  luminaries '  who  have 
fallen  asleep  in  Asia :  ' John  who  leaned  on  the  breast  of  the  Lord, 
who  had  been  (made)  a  priest  (fcpefa)  wearing  the  ireroAov,  both 
pdprvs  and  StSdcr/caAos  :  he  sleeps  in  Ephesus.'    (On  this  ircraXoy,  or 
high  priest's  golden  plate,  see  Drummond  FG  209  n.) 

According  to  Lightf.  Gal.  362  n.,  "  the  whole  passage  is  a  very 
rude  specimen  of  the  florid  '  Asiatic '  style,"  and  the  wearing  of  the 
iTfraXov  is  merely  figurative.  The  statement  of  an  early  bishop  of 
Ephesus  cannot,  I  think,  be  dismissed  in  so  summary  a  style.  But  it 
is  evident  that  the  passage  cannot  refer  to  St.  John  the  Apostle,  for 
'  apostle '  and  'teacher '  (supra  144  n.  3)  are  distinct  orders.  On  the 
other  hand,  this  'teacher'  John  who  wore  the  iriraXov  may  well  be  the 
Elder  John  (Euseb.  HJSui  39);  the  author  probably  of  II  and  III  Ep. 
John,  and  possibly  of  the  Apoc.  (see  supra  App.  A  I  /  (ii) ;  taking 
4  Elder '  to  refer,  not  to  the  order  of  '  presbyters  *  in  the  Church,  (an 
1  elder '  in  this  sense  could  not  be  a  *  teacher,')  but  to  the  fact  that  he 
had  borne  a  Jewish  office,  probably  as  a  member  of  the  Sanhedrim 


APPENDIX  B  361 

(Selwyn  CP  127),  and  was  a  connexion  of  the  high  priest's.  (That 
the  Apoc.  was  written  by  one  of  the  '  elders,'  or  Sanhedrim,  would 
explain  the  use  of  the  word  in  Apoc.  iv  4,  &c.,  where  it  cannot  mean 
*  presbyter.')  I  see  no  reason  why  this  Elder  John  should  not  be  '  the 
other  disciple  known  to  the  high  priest '  (John  xviii  15),  who  was  not 
necessarily  the  writer  of  the  Gospel, '  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved.' 

VI.  The  difficulties  every  way  are  not  slight.    As  regards  the  view 
taken  on  p.  48,  the  two  chief  objections  to  identifying  this  St.  John 
with  the  Apostle  are  (a)  the  silence  of  Polycarp  and  of  Ignatius, 
especially  that  the  latter,  writing  a  few  years  after  the  death  of  St. 
John  to  the  Ephesians,  should  ignore  St.  John  and  mention  St.  Paul. 
But  the  date  of  Epp.  Ignatius  is  uncertain.    (6)  So  also  Clem.  Horn. 
Ep.  Cor.  42,  44  seems  to  hint  that  the  Apostolic  age  is  over.     Now,  if 
this  epistle  was  written  95-6  (Lightfoot),  or  93-5  (Harnack),  this  is 
remarkable,  if  St.  John  was  still  alive  at  Ephesus.    But  the  language 
of  Ep.  Cor.  is  often  loose  and  rhetorical ;  cf.  supra  pp.  36,  37  n.  1. 

VII.  To  sum  up.    The  following  seem  to  me  the  lines  of  least 
resistance  and  difficulty — it  is  impossible  in  so  intricate  a  matter  to 
say  more,    (a)  The  story  of  Papias,  if  not  a  mere  blunder  of  Philip 
of  Side,  refers  to  some  otherwise  unknown  John,  whom  Philip  of  Side', 
acting  on  a  blundering  interpretation  of  Nark  x  39,  mistook  for  the 
Apostle,  the  tradition  of  whose  death  has  lingered  not  only  in  Papias, 
but  possibly  in  Clem.  Alex,  (see  supra  p.  25).     (6)  There  was  a 
John  the  Elder,  a  member  of  a  Jewish  priestly  family,  who  died, 
possibly,  as  a  '  martyr '  in  Ephesus,  and  who  may  have  been  the 
author  of  II  and  III  Epp.  John  and  Apoc.    In  this  last  case  (by  no 
means  absolutely  proven),  it  was  the  Elder  John  who  was  the  victim 
of  the  persecution  of  Nero  (see  supra  p.  46  and  App.  A  If  (ii).    (c)  St. 
John  the  Apostle  died  in  extreme  old  age  a  natural  death  at  Ephesus 
in  the  reign  of  Trajan,  and  was  the  author  in  extreme  old  age  of  the 
Gospel  and  I  Epistle.    For  the  theory  recently  put  forth  that  the 
'  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved '  was  not  St.  John  (John  xxi  2  is  unfor- 
tunately ambiguous),  but  John  of  Ephesus,  leads  to  the  hopeless  puzzle 
that  at  the  Last  Supper  the  place  of  honour  next  to  Jesus  was  occupied 
by  a  young  man  not  an  Apostle,  whom  no  Apostle  or  companion  of 
Apostles  ever  mention  by  name,  and  that  such  an  honoured  and  prc- 
eumably,  therefore,  great  man  was  afterwards  mistaken  by  people  who 
ought  to  know  for  the  perfectly  obscure  John-Zebedee.    The  larger 
this  '  beloved  disciple '  loomed,  the  more  honoured  he  was  by  Jesus, 
the  greater  his  literary  works,  the  more  absurd,  in  my  judgement, 
euch  a  theory  becomes. 


362  APPENDIX  0 

APPENDIX  C 

THE  MARTYRDOM  OF  ST.  PETEK  AND  ST.  PAUL 

I.  The  crucifixion  by  Nero  of  St.  Peter  at  Rome  (Babylon  I  Pet. 
v  13)  seems  to  me  beyond  reasonable  doubt.     The  evidence  in  favour 
is  well  set  out  by  Dr.  Chase  in  DCB  iii  769-78,  while  all  that  can 
be  pleaded  against  will  be  found  in   EB  4591-4627.     The  main 
passages  in  favour  are  Clem.  Rom.  Cor.  5,  6  (supra  36),  Tert.  Adv 
Marc,  iv  5,  Praescript  36,  Scorp.  15,  Dionysius  of  Corinth  (c.  170)  in 
Euseb.  HE  ii  25,  Origen  in  ib.  iii  1,  Lactant.  MP  2,  and  the  doubtful 
AAA  (see  supra  43  n.),  whose  witness,  however,  as  to  the  fact  of  St. 
Peter's  death  in  Rome  is  almost  unanimous,  and  not  to  be  explained 
on    the    tendency-principles  of   EB    4614.      Special  value  should 
perhaps  be  assigned  to  the  evidence  of  the  Ascension  of  Isaiah  (Ed. 
Charles,  1900)  iv  3  (*  of  the  twelve  one  will  be  delivered  into  his, 
i.e.  Nero's,  hands'),   especially  if    the    date    assigned  by  Charles 
(between  88  and  100)  be  correct.     (See,  however,  EB  4596.) 

II.  That  St.  Peter  died  within  a  few  months  of  the  fire  of  July, 
64,  seems  to  me  a  fair  inference  from  the  position  of  his  tomb  (supra 
44  and  286  n.  1)  and  his  presence  in  Rome.    For  St.  Paul's  death 
see  supra  38  n.     The  order  of  names  in  Clem.  Cor.  5  (supra  36)  may 
thus  be  chronological.     The  date  in  the  Liberian  Catalogue  (LP  i  3) 
for  St.  Peter's  death  as  55  is  evidently  made  by  adding  25  (supposed 
length  of  episcopacy)  to  30  (supposed  death  of  Christ).     The  argu- 
ments of  Swete  Mark  (1898)  xvii-viii  for  the  death  of  St.  Paul  prior 
to  St.  Peter's  seem  to  me  unconvincing.    For  Ramsay's  date  for  St. 
Peter's  death  (A.D.  80)  see  supra  App.  A  I  (c)  (i).    It  seems  to  me  to 
lead  to  many  difficulties. 

III.  The  idea  that  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  suffered  together  is  an 
inference  from  the  union  of  their  names  in  Clem.  Cor.  5,  Ign.  Rom.  4, 
further  developed  by  Dionysius  of  Corinth  in  Euseb.  HE  ii  25  into 
the  statement  that  they  '  suffered  martyrdom  at  the  same  time '  (KCCTO 
rbv  avT-'bv  Kaipov,  which  need  not  be  pressed).     Later  writers  (Tert. 
Scorp.  15,  Praescript.  36)  always  join  together  the  two,  though  loosely. 
Prudentius  Peristeph.  xii  5  represented  them  as  suffering  on  the  same 
day  one  year  apart.    From  the  festival  of  their  temporary  depositio 
(see  supra  p.  262)  we  gain  the  common  festival  of  their  deaths  on 
June  29,  and  the  mediaeval  idea  that  they  suffered  the  same  day  of 


APPENDIX  0  363 

the  same  year.    This  idea  is  first  found  in  the  Liberian  Catalogue 
(c.  354)  in  LP  i  2,  cf.  ib.  i  118 ;  thence  adopted  by  Jerome  Vir.  Ill  5). 

IV.  For  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Paul  the  authorities  are  practically 
the  same  as  for  St.  Peter.     See  DCS  iii  769-78,  Lewin's  St.  Paul  ii 
405  (set  out  in  full),  Harnack  CAL  i  240-3.    For  the  date  see  supra 
38.    The  date  in  McGiffert  Apostolic  Age  (1897)  p.  J419  (A.D.  58) 
seems  to  me  as  much  too  early  as  that  of  Lightfoot  (supra  38)  is  too 
late.    It  swings  back  to  that  of  the  Liberian  Catalogue  (supra  II). 

V.  For  the  places  of  burial  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  see  the 
statement  of  Caius  (198-217)  quoted  in  Euseb.  HE  ii  25,  6  and 
Jerome  de  Vir.  111.  1.    'But  I  am  able  to  show  the  "trophies"  (T& 
Tpdircud)  of  the  Apostles.    For  if  you  will  come  to  the  Vatican  or 
Ostean  way,'  &c.,  where  r&  rpdircua  may  mean  *  places  of  burial '  or 
'  places  of  death  '  (lit.  '  signs  of  victory ')  or  '  monuments,'  i.e.  tombs 
over  the  same.      But  in  this  case  the  two  meanings  are  the  same, 
especially  if  we  reject  the  story  of  the  Tre  Fontane  (supra  40  n.  3). 
In  the   case  of  St.  Peter  the  traditions  are  very  definite:   *  Qui 
sepultus   est  via  Aurelia,  in  templum  Apollonis,  jnxta  locum  ubi 
crucifixus    est,    juxta    palatium    Neronianum,   juxta    territurium 
Triumphalem ' ;    LP  i  118  with  Duchesne's  notes  (i  120)  showing 
that  the   pal.  Neronianum  was  the  circus  (supra  p.  286)  and  the 
templum  Apollonis  a  confusion  of  a  temple  of  the  Great  Mother. 
Cf.  also  the  definite  location  in  Acta  Petri  et  Pauli  84  (Lipsius  AAA 
216).     So  also,  in  spite  of  its  manifest   "tendency"  against  the 
Eastern  Church  (supra  262  n.  2),  is  the  definite  location  in  the 
Passio  SS.  Petri  et  Pauli  (Lipsius  AAA  177).    The  deposit™  in  258 
(LP  i   11)  near    St.   Sebastian  I  have    explained    already  (supra 
p.  262).    How  well  the  traditional  accounts,  in  the  case  of  both 
St.  Peter  and  St.   Paul,  fit  in  with  the  results  of  archaeology  is 
set  out  in  Lanciani  PCR  126  ff.,  150  ff.    Nor  is  there  any  difficulty 
in  understanding  how  the  bodies  would  be  handed  over  (supra  p.  258). 

The  Janiculan  tradition  of  the  place  of  death  of  St.  Peter 
commemorated  by  the  Church  of  S.  Pietro  in  Montorio  (i.e. 
Montaurelio)  arose  from  a  confusion  of  the  via  Aurelia  on  the 
Vatican  with  the  older  road  of  the  same  name  on  the  Janiculan,  and 
from  a  mistaken  interpretation  of  the  *  inter  duas  metas,'  between 
which  tradition  held  that  St.  Peter  was  executed  (see  Lanciani 
PCR  128). 

VI.  As  regards  the  deaths  of  the  Apostles,  the  various  legends 
would  appear  to  have  had  their  origin  in  a  work  called  vepioSoi  r£>v 
a.Troffr6\uv,  "  The  Wanderings  of  the  Apostles,"  a  work  of  Gnostic 
origin  ascribed  to  Leucius  (Charinus),  and  dating  between  160  and 


364  APPENDIX  D 

170,  possibly  (Zahn)  as  early  as  130.  They  may  be  studied  in 
Lipsius  and  Bonnet  AAA  (text  only) — my  references  are  to  this — or 
Hennecke  Neutestamentliche  Apolcryphen  Leipzig,  1904,  2  vol».,  one 
text  and  one  of  "  Handbuch."  These  two  editions  supplant  the  older 
Tischendorf,  AAA.  See  also  Malan's  Conflicts  of  the  Apostles.  To 
what  extent  the  legends  are  early  Christian  poetry  (Boissier  FP  ii 
8)  due  to  parousian  and  Gnostic  tendencies,  and  to  what  extent  they 
are  founded  upon  some  basis  of  tradition,  it  is  now  impossible  to 
decide.  The  earlier  their  date  the  more  likely  that  they  contain 
some  basis  of  fact. 


APPENDIX  D 

THE  PERSECUTION  OF  NERO 

As  regards  the  persecution  of  Nero  there  are  three  theories — 

(ot)  The  sufferers  were  Jews,  probably  zealots,  not  Christians  at  all. 
So  Gibbon  ii  88-9,  and,  in  different  forms,  by  many  Germans.  Bury 
(ed.  Gibbon)  dismisses  it  as  not  worth  discussion.  See  also  Hardy 
CRG  61  ff. ;  Lightfoot  Phil.  24  ff. ;  Furneaux  Tac.  ii  573. 

Merivale's  refinement  (vi  448-9)  that  the  Jews  dragged  the  Chris- 
tians into  the  same  condemnation,  is  without  evidence,  except  possibly 
Suetonius  Claud.  25,  Judaeos  impulsore  Chresto  assidue  tumultuantes 
Roma  expulit,  which  seems  to  me  (unless  indeed  one  of  many  marks  of 
Suetonius'  carelessness)  a  proof  merely  that  at  that  date  (c.  50)  the 
distinction  between  Jew  and  Christian  was  not  clearly  made.  So 
Gibbon  ii  82,  n.  The  whole  passage,  in  fact,  is  very  doubtful. 

(6)  The  Jews  were  first  accused,  but  succeeded  in  shifting  the 
blame  on  to  the  Christians.  Renan  L'Ante~ch.  157  ff. 

There  is  no  evidence  except  a  doubtful  interpretation  of  Clement, 
Cor.  6,  8ta  £T?A.OS  TraQ6vrts  (see  also  infra  (c)),  and  Pseudo-Seneca's 
correspondence  with  St.  Paul,  Ep.  12  (Seneca ;  ed.  Haase  iii  476  ff.), 
Christiani  et  Judaei  quasi  machinatores  incendii  affecti  supplicio  uri 
eolent.  This  fourth-century  statement  might  possibly  be  derived  from 
some  earlier  source.  But  the  silence  of  Josephus  seems  to  me 
conclusive. 

(c)  The  Christians  alone  accused  and  punished,  probably  at  the 
instigation  of  the  Jews  (Lightf.  Ign.  i  10-11,  Harnack  EC  ii  116,  n.). 


APPENDIX  B  365 

To  this  last  probably  the  passage  in  Clem.  Cor.  6,  cited  above,  refers. 
The  Christians  suffered '  through  spite  *  (Jewish),  for  I  should  reject  the 
view  of  Hardy  (o.c.  68)  of  two  parties  in  the  Church,  one  of  which 
denounced  the  other.  The  words  of  Tacitus,  'indicio  eorum,'  &c. 
(quoted  supra  p.  54  n.),  do  not  necessitate  this,  though  there  may  have 
been  those  who  turned  traitor  under  torture  (cf.  Eeb.  vi  4-6).  Rather 
the  *  evidence '  was  that  of  the  Jews  (Furneaux  ii  580). 

As  regards  the  extent  of  the  persecution  of  64  there  are  two 
theories — 

(i.)  Confined  to  'Rome.  So  Dodwell  de  Martyrum  Paucitate 
(Oxford,  1684)  xiii,  Merivale,  Gibbon,  Harnack  EC  ii  116,  and  many 
others. 

(ii.)  General,  at  any  rate  in  Asia  Minor.  The  only  evidence  earlier 
than  the  late  Orosius  Hist,  vii  17  is  I  Peter  and  Apoc.  Their  evidence 
depends  on  their  date.  If  this  be  settled  as  early  (see  Appendix  A), 
the  evidence  is  conclusive.  (Cf.  Renan  IS  Ant.  183.)  But  the  fact  of 
Pliny's  hesitation  (supra  p.  211)  is  proof  that  the  persecution  of  64  was 
not  founded  on  any  imperial  rescript,  and  was  merely  executive.  The 
supposed  graffito  of  Pompeji  (GIL  iv  679,  the  letters  HEISTIAN,  traced  in 
charcoal,  now  faded),  which  has  been  accepted  (e.g  Hardy  o.c.  64, 
Lightf.  Ign.  i  416)  as  evidence  of  persecution  and  use  of  the  name 
Christian  in  that  region,  is  very  doubtful ;  see  Mau  Pompei  18,  Renan 
o.c.  184,  n. ;  and  cf.  Tert.  Apol.  40,  who  states  that  there  were  no  Chris- 
tians in  the  Campagna  at  the  time  of  the  destruction  of  Pompeii.  But 
Tertullian  is  too  rhetorical  to  be  pressed.  Moreover,  St.  Paul  found 
Christians  at  Puteoli  (Acts  xxviii  14).  A  copy  of  the  graffito  may  be 
seen  in  Aube  PE  416.  The  oft-quoted  Lusitanian  inscription  at 
Clunia  (GIL  ii  fals.  231)  is  also  a  forgery.  For  the  supposed 
evidence  of  Sulpic.  Sev.  Chron.  ii  29  see  infra  App.  E. 


APPENDIX  E 

THE  LAWS  UNDER  WHICH  CHRISTIANS  WERE 
CONDEMNED 

The  article  of  Th.  Mommsen :  Der  Beligionsfrevel  nach  rdmiachen 
Recht  in  Hist.  Zeitschrift  (1890)  Ixiv  pp.  389-429  created  a  revolution 
in  the  views  taken  by  historians  of  this  matter.  The  views  of 
Mommeen  have  been  followed  by  Hardy  CRG,  Ramsay  ChE,  Le 


366  APPENDIX  E 

Blant  (in  his  Bases  juridiques  des  poursuites  dirigeea  contre  leg 
martyrs,  reprinted  in  his  Les  Perse'cuteurs  et  les  Martyrs,  Paris,  1893), 
and  the  majority  of  recent  historians.  The  arguments  have  been  set 
forth  at  length  in  c.  II  of  this  Lecture.  Only  by  Mommsen's  view — 
briefly  stated,  that  persecution  in  the  first  two  centuries  was  a  police 
matter  rather  than  the  result  of  special  laws — does  it  seem  to  me 
that  we  are  able  to  explain  the  correspondence  of  Pliny  and  Trajan, 
the  fact  that  Ulpian  put  the  regulations  against  Christians  under 
the  heading  of  '  de  officio  proconsulis '  (see  supra  p.  240  n.  1),  and, 
above  all,  the  alternations  of  toleration  and  persecution  as  set  forth  in 
c.  IV.  The  control  of  religion,  moreover,  was  undoubtedly  a  magis- 
terial function,  part  of  their  regular  'jus  coercitionis.'  On  this 
matter,  in  addition  to  Mommsen's  article,  the  student  may  consult 
with  advantage  Dr.  Max  Conrat  (or  Cohn)  Die  Christenverfolgungen 
im  romischen  Seiche  vom  Standpunhte  des  Turisten  (Leipzig,  1897). 

The  views  of  Mommsen  have  not,  however,  been  accepted  by  all 
historians.  The  best  statement  of  the  arguments  against  that  I  am 
acquainted  with  is  C.  Callewaert :  Les  premiers  Chretiens  furent-ils 
persecutes  par  e'dits  ge'ne'raux  ou  par  mesures  de  police  1  two  articles 
in  the  Revue  Histoire  Ecclesiastique  for  Oct.,  1901,  and  April,  1902 
(readers  at  the  Brit.  Mus.  should  look  under  "  Academies ;  Louvain  "). 
Cf.  also  Allard  I  HP  164-7.  Callewaert,  who  quotes  many  other 
writers,  none  of  which,  so  far  as  I  have  checked  them,  add  to  his 
arguments,  makes  much  of  certain  passages  in  Tertullian  (especially 
Apol.  4,  and  ad  Nat.  i  6, '  non  licet  esse  vos,'  *  Christianum  puniunt 
leges '),  and  also  of  the  passage  in  Sulpic.  Severus  Chron.  ii  29  (not 
41  as  Callewaert)  speaking  of  Nero,  '  post,  etiam  datis  legibus  religio 
vetebatur,  palamque  edictis  propositis  Christianum  esse  non  licebat.' 
But  Sulpicius  Severus,  in  spite  of  his  indebtedness  to  Tacitus,  as, 
Bernays  has  shown,  is  too  late  an  authority  to  be  relied  upon. 
I  cannot  see  that  Callewaert  has  made  out  his  case.  The  only  thing 
that  can  be  said  in  favour  is  this,  that  undoubtedly  the  laws  against 
Christianity,  if  any  such  existed  in  the  first  two  centuries,  would  be 
destroyed  by  the  Justinian  legislators,  just  as  the  edicts  of  Decius 
Valerian,  and  Diocletian  were  unfortunately  destroyed,  so  that 
all  that  we  have  left  in  the  Digest  are  certain  police  regulations 
which  would  affect  Christianity  inter  alia.  On  the  existing  evidence 
I  sec  no  escape  from  the  conclusions  of  Mommsen. 


APPENDIX  F  367 


APPENDIX  F 

THE  NUMBER  OF  THE  MARTYRS;  THE  PERCENTAGE 
OF  CHRISTIANS  IN  THE  POPULATION  OF  THE  EMPIRE 

These  two  questions  are  intimately  bound  up  together.  To  the 
Church,  if  small,  a  few  martyrs  would  seem  many,  and  its  propor- 
tions would  in  time  certainly  become  exaggerated. 

I.  Many  difficulties  would  be  solved  if  we  could  settle  the  popula- 
tion of  the  Empire.     The  latest  attempt,  Beloch's  Die  BevoHcerung 
der  gr-rdm.  Welt,  gives  the  total  under  Augustus  at  54  millions ; 
Egypt,  5  millions,  including  Alexandria  500,000 ;  Syria,  6  millions, 
under  Nero  7  millions,  including  Antioch  300,000  without  slaves. 
Rome :  male  plebeians  over  10  in  B.C.  5,  320,000,  or  about  800,000  in 
all.     Beloch's  figures  seem  rather  small,  as  in  this  case   the  Jews 
would  form  about  one-eighth  of  the  population  of  the  Empire,  unless 
indeed  all  our  sources  of  information  as  to  the  number  of  Jews  are 
grossly  exaggerated  (see  supra  p.  113).     The  figures  of  Gibbon  (i  42), 
120  millions,  are   however  far  too  large.     The  figures  of  Bureau 
de  la  Malle  ficonomie  Politique  have  been  adopted  by  Merivale  HRE 
cc.  39,  40.    They  give  for  Italy  below  the  Rubicon  a  total  of  8  or 
9  millions,  including  1,200,000  for  Sicily ;  for  Asia  Minor  and  Syria, 
27  millions ;  and  for  Egypt,  8  millions  (cf.  Joseph.  BJ  ii  16,  4,  who 
states  that  his  figures  were  taken  from  the  poll-tax) ;  a  total  for  the 
Empire  of   85,000,000.      His    estimate   for  Rome    (506,000,   i.e.  of 
freemen)  is  practically  the  same  as  Beloch's,  and  Beloch's  is  as 
generous  as  the  data  will  allow,  as  3-400,000  is  a  liberal  allowance 
for  foreigners  and  slaves. 

Taking,  then,  the  population  of  the  Empire  under  Nero  as  about 
60  millions,  we  shall  not  be  far  wrong,  in  view  of  the  plagues, 
famines,  and  disasters  of  the  time,  if  we  compute  it  as  somewhat  less, 
at  any  rate  no  greater,  under  Decius,  Valerian,  and  Diocletian. 

II.  In  this  population,  what  was    the  proportion  of  Christians 
under  (a)  Decius  and  Valerian,  (&)  under  Diocletian  ? 

(a)  We  may  dismiss  at  once  the  exaggerations  of  the  Fathers 
(supra  pp.  231  ff.).  At  the  outside,  in  the  year  180  the 
Christians  would  not  outnumber  the  Jews  (supra  233  n.), 
whose  numbers  had  been  much  reduced  by  their  struggle, 
with  Hadrian.  Only  for  a  few  to\vns  have  we  any  data. 


368  APPENDIX  P 

At  Borne  in  the  time  of  Decius  there  were  46  presbyters, 
14  in  deacons*  orders,  and  52  clergy  in  minor  orders 
(Euseb.  HE  vi  43),  and  a  congregation  which  supported 
as  well  1,500  poor  people,  at  a  cost  of  £5-10,000  a  year 
(Harnack  EC  i  195).  At  the  outside  this  means  a  church 
of  from  40-50,000,  or  about  one-sixteenth  of  the  population. 
In  Lyons,  the  largest  city  of  Gaul,  in  177,  as  a  result  of 
a  severe  persecution,  not  48  adults  were  executed  (supra 
296  n.).  At  the  most  the  Church  cannot  have  numbered 
more  than  200-300  persons,  including  children,  if  we  take 
into  account  its  alien  character.  If  the  reader  will  take 
the  list  of  places  in  which  Christianity  existed  in  or  about 
180  (see  Harnack  EC  ii  245-6),  and  will  compare  it  with 
the  excellent  map,  constructed  on  the  same  principles,  of 
where  Mithraism  existed  (in  Cumont  TM  vol.  ii),  he  will 
see  how  feeble  Christianity  was  at  this  date.  By  the  time 
of  Decius  no  doubt  there  had  been  great  growth,  but 
nothing  to  warrant  us  in  supposing  that  the  Church  was 
anything  yet  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  population. 
(6)  Materials  for  framing  an  estimate  of  the  strength  of  Christianity 
under  Diocletian  will  be  found  in  Harnack's  elaborate 
survey  (EC  ii  240-456).  From  a  careful  study  of  this 
survey,  I  see  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  Christians, 
except  in  a  few  great  towns,  were  other  than  a  small, 
though  powerful,  wealthy,  and  well-organized  minority,  at 
the  outside  one-ninth  or  so  of  the  whole  (see  Bury's 
Gibbon,  Appendix  ii  542);  i.e.  not  much  more  than 
6,000,000  in  all  at  the  time  of  the  conversion  of  the  Empire 
to  Christianity.  But  numbers  are  not  everything,  and  no 
other  body  in  the  Empire  was  its  equal  in  unity  and 
driving  power. 

III.  From  the  above  arguments,  if  correct,  it  is  evident  that  the 
unlimited  massacres  of  the  martyrologists  must  be  ruled  out,  though 
often  repeated  even  to-day.  Persecution  was  intensive  rather  than 
extensive,  and  relatively  rather  than  absolutely  great,  except,  of 
course,  in  certain  special  districts  and  times.  But  the  estimate  of 
Gibbon  (ed.  Bury  ii  95  ff.  137)  is  too  small.  He  relied,  following 
Dodwell's  de  Martyrum  Paucitate  (Oxford,  1684),  on  the  statement  of 
Origen  that  those  who  perished  before  his  time  were  few  and  far 
between  (OeZa.  iii  8,  bXiyoi  /caret  Kaipovs,  Kal  <r<p6$pa  euap/fyujrot  virlp 
TUV  Xpiffriavcav  8eoffe&elas  Te0i^/ccVi),  on  the  fact  that  Dionysius  only 
mentions  ten  men  and  seven  women  who  suffered  in  the  great  city  of 


APPENDIX  G  369 

Alexandria  during  the  persecution  of  Decius  (Euaeb.  HE  vi  41), 
and  on  the  statement  of  Eusebius  MP  13  that  the  martyrs  of  Palestine 
were  ninety-two  in  all.  From  these  figures  he  deduces  2,000  martyrs 
for  the  whole  Diocletian  persecution  at  the  outside.  But  Gibbon  and 
Dodwell  minimize  almost  as  much  as  the  martyrologists  exaggerate. 
We  must  remember  (a)  No  systematic  lists  were  kept,  or  if  kept  in 
the  case  of  Rome  were  all  destroyed,  possibly  by  Diocletian  (supra 
p.  37.  For  a  very  imperfect  Roman  list  see  Ruinart  AM  617.  We 
sorely  miss  the  records  of  Anteros,  supra  p.  241).  (&)  Only  by 
accident  do  we  hear  from  Pliny  of  the  severe  persecution  in  Bithynia, 
and  Tertullian  seems  to  be  ignorant  of  the  great  outbreak  at  Lyons. 
But  for  St.  Augustine  we  should  never  have  known  of  the  persecu- 
tion at  the  same  time  in  Madaura.  (c)  Our  knowledge  of  persecutions 
is  chiefly  derived  from  apologetic  writers,  whose  whole  policy  it  was 
to  accentuate  the  indulgent  attitude  of  good  emperors,  Trajan,  &c.,  in 
times  anterior  to  their  own  (supra  p.  208). 

We  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  truth  lies  between  the  small 
figure  of  Gibbon  and  the  usual  exaggerations,  though  nearer  Gibbon 
than  to  the  martyrologists.  (Of.  Boissier  FP  i  443-59  for  some 
judicious  remarks.) 


APPENDIX  G 

THE  APOLOGIES  OF  ARISTIDES  AND  QUADRATUS 

It  is  of  some  importance  that  we  examine  more  fully  the  con- 
nexion of  the  Apology  of  Aristides  with  Hadrian,  as  also  the  date 
of  the  Apology  of  Quadratus.  The  following  are  the  data  : — 

(i.)  Hadrian  paid  two  visits  to  Athens — one  in  the  winter  of  125, 
the  other  in  the  winter  of  128-9.  Either  year  would  be  possible  for 
the  Asian  proconsulate  of  Minicius  Fundanus  and  his  predecessor 
Granianus,  though  perhaps  the  earlier  year  would  be  the  more 
probable,  considering  the  somewhat  lengthy  period  since  they  had 
passed  their  earlier  known  offices  (see  supra,  p.  217  n.  2).  If  then, 
as  Eusebius  HE  iv  3,  Chron.  s.v  125,  represent,  the  rescript  of  Hadrian 
was  the  effect  of  the  Apology  of  Quadratus — with  whom  Eusebius 
couples  Aristides  and  his  Apology — we  are  able  to  date  approximately 
as  either  124-5  or  128-9. 

2  B 


370  APPENDIX  G 

(ii.)  The  question,  however,  arises  whether  Eusebius  was  not 
mistaken,  as  regards  certainly  Aristides,  and  possibly  Quadratus. 
The  Apology  of  Aristides  until  of  late  was  supposed  to  be  lost. 
Kecently,  however,  it  was  discovered  by  the  research  of  Dean  Robin- 
son. Curious  to  say,  in  reality  the  major  part,  of  this  supposed 
lost  work  had  been  known  for  centuries.  It  had  been  incorporated 
in  the  romance  entitled  Barlaam  and  Joasaph  or  Josaphat  (i.e- 
Buddha,  under  which  name  Buddha  has  obtained  a  place  in  the 
Christian  calendar),  popularly  attributed  to  John  of  Damascus. 
(For  this  romance  in  Latin,  see  Rosweyd  Vitae  Patrum  i  in  Migne  PL 
Ixxiii  443  ff.  It  was  translated  into  Icelandic  as  early  as  1204.  The 
Apology  exists  also  in  various  Syriac,  first  recovered  by  Rendel 
Harris,  and  Armenian  versions.)  According  to  the  second  superscrip- 
tion of  the  Syriac  version,  which  gives  us  also  the  full  name  of  the 
author,  it  was  dedicated,  not  to  the  well-known  Hadrian,  as  Eusebius 
asserted,  but  to  Antoninus  Pius  (i.e.  T.  Aurelius  Fulvius,  who  became 
known  as  Hadrian  Antoninus  Pius  on  his  adoption  on  Feb.  25,  138, 
though  the  use  of  his  first  name  (Hadrian)  is  not  common).  If  the 
Syriac  is  correct,  this  fixes  the  date  as  later  than  Feb.,  138.  (Harnack 
CAL  i  271-3  gives  138-61,  and  adds  possibly  138-47  as  the  narrower 
limits.)  In  this  case  the  Apology  of  Aristides  was  not  connected 
with  the  rescript  of  Hadrian  at  all.  As  evidence  of  a  late  date  we 
may  urge  the  total  absence  in  Aristides  of  the  usual  Jewish  hatred. 
This  would  indicate  a  time  removed  from  the  insurrection  of  Bar- 
Kokheba  (see  supra,  p.  116  n.). 

(iii.)  The  same  doubt  applies,  but  in  a  lesser  degree,  to  the  state- 
ment of  Euseb.  HE  iv  3  as  to  Quadratus  presenting  his  Apology  to 
Hadrian.  It  is  possible  that  Eusebius,  and  after  him  Jerome  Vir.  111. 
19  Ep.  70,  confused  the  apologist  with  an  earlier  Quadratus  of 
Athens, '  who  was  bishop  after  the  martyrdom  of  Publius '  (HE  iv  23)- 
The  name,  in  fact,  was  fairly  common  (Renan  EC  40  n.,  see  Euseb. 
HE  v  17,  iii  37).  On  this  view  the  Apology  of  Quadratus  was  also 
presented  to  the  other  Hadrian,  i.e.  Antoninus  Pius  (see  the  argu- 
ments of  Lightf.  Ign.  i  540).  In  the  absence  of  the  Apology  itself 
it  is  not  easy  to  decide.  The  one  sentence  that  has  been  preserved 
for  us  (Euseb.  HE  iv  3),  if  correct,  is  however  conclusive  for  the 
earlier  date.  Quadratus  claims  that  the  miracles  of  Jesus  were 
'  true  miracles,'  and  instances  that  some  whom  He  had  healed  '  lived 
to  oar  own  times.'  Harris  (o.c.  6-16)  and  Ramsay  ChE  341  date 
under  Hadrian. 

(iv.)  The  best  edition  of  the  Apology  of  Aristides,  with  full 
discussions,  is  that  by  Harris  and  Robinson  Cambridge  TS  (i)  1,  or 


APPENDIX  H  371 

Hennecke  in  TU  (iv)  3,  or  the  elaborate  study  of  Seeberg  in  Zahn 
FGK  v  245.  A  translation  will  be  found  in  the  additional  volume  of 
Clark's  ANCL. 

APPENDIX  H 

THE  PUNISHMENTS  OF   WOMEN 

Instances  of  the  danger  of  women,  especially  of  young  and 
beautiful  girls,  are  too  numerous  to  be  dismissed  as  fiction.  In  spite 
of  the  repulsiveness  of  the  subject,  the  student  should  realize  all 
that  it  meant  to  be  a  Christian  in  early  days.  The  following  cases, 
in  addition  to  those  mentioned  supra  p.  301  ff.,  seem  to  me  to  contain 
historical  elements,  though  often  mixed  up  with  legendary  matter, 
created  by  the  demand  of  an  age  that  exalted  virginity. 

Euseb.  MP  5  states  that  there  were  many  cases  at  Alexandria. 

Sabina  (certainly  genuine);  AM  1&3.  'Bides?  Ilia  respondit: 
Kideo,  si  Deus  vult.  Turn  illi :  passura  es,  inquiunt,  ilia  quae  noris. 
Quae  non  sacrificent  enim,  lupanaribus  deputatae  praestent  meretri- 
cibus  collegium,  et  lenonibus  supplementum.' 

Irene  AM  395  for  keeping  copies  of  the  Scriptures,  'in  lupanari 
nudam  statui  praecipio,'  with  the  provision  of  one  loaf  a  day.  She 
was  finally  burnt  on  April  1st,  304.  (Cf.  Harnack  OAL  ii  475.) 

The  Seven  Virgins  of  Ancyra,  with  a  certain  Tecusa  at  their 
head,  were  driven  naked  to  the  annual  bathing  of  the  images  of 
Artemis  and  Athene,  and  drowned  (A.D.  303,  Acta  Theodoti  in  AM). 

More  doubtful  cases  are  those  of  Dionysia  (AM  160),  Domnina 
(AM  476),  *  Non  metuebat  ne  quis  latera  ipsi  effoderet,  sed  ne  quis 
filiarum  corrumperet  virginitatem '  (cf.  Pelagia  AM  518).  But  the 
story  of  Polyxena  in  the  Acts  of  Xanthippe  and  Polyxena  c.  36  (ed. 
Dr.  Montague  James  in  TS  (2)  no.  3)  is  myth.  But  such  myths,  like 
the  tale  in  Lucian  Asinus  c.  52  (ii  620  ed.  Dind.),  Apuleius  Metam.  x 
23,  witness  to  the  horrors  that  were  possible  for  condemned  Christian 
women. 

Tertullian  Apol.  50  mentions  another  '  recent '  case,  but  in  such  a 
way  as  to  show  that  these  brutalities  were  the  rare  exception,  a  con- 
clusion at  which  we  should  otherwise  arrive  from  the  study  of  such 
documents  as  the  Passio  Perpetuae,  &c.  Like  the  •  Danaids  and  Dircae ' 
(supra  p.  287  n.  2),  they  belong  to  special  outbursts  of  horror  and 
rage.  But  Tert.  ad  Nat.  4  tells  us  that  he  knew  of  more  than  one 
heathen  husband  who  tried  to  drive  his  Christian  wife  into 
prostitution. 


372  APPENDIX  J 

APPENDIX  J 

THE  FATHERS   AND  THE  EMPIRE 

Orig.  Celt,  viii  69  ff.  The  views  of  the  Fathers,  &c.,  on  the 
Empire  would  form  an  interesting  study,  but  would  take  us  too  far 
afield.  Some  knowledge  is,  however,  indispensable  to  our  subject, 
and  to  the  understanding  of  the  relations  of  Christianity  and  the 
State.  Broadly  speaking,  we  discern  the  following  drifts  of  thought, 
both  often  held  by  the  same  writer. 

(1)  Absolute  antagonism  to  the  Empire,  as  a  diabolic  state. 
So  Jewish  apocalyptic  literature  in  general. 

So  Apoc.  John  throughout.  Orac.  Sibyllina  (some  Christian,  some 
Jewish,  supra  p.  154  n.),  see  especially  viii  50  ff. 

Christian  writers  in  part  inherited  this  idea  from  Judaism,  in  part 
developed  it  as  the  result  of  the  self-consciousness  of  the  Church  of 
herself  as  a  *  third  race '  (supra  p.  190)  of  universal  extent.  We  find 
the  idea  brought  out  more  or  less  in  the  following  passages : — 

Justin  Dial.  39 ;  Tert.  Apol  21, '  Yea,  and  the  Caesars  would  have 
believed  in  Christ  ...  if  the  Caesars  could  have  been  Christians ' 
(antagonism  so  absolute  that  a  Christian  Caesar  is  impossible !)  37 ; 
Hippolytus  in  Dan.  iv.  9. 

(2)  The  idea  of  co-operation,  providential  in  design,  mutually  bene- 
ficial.   When  Tert.  Apol  32  owns  that  Christians  should  pray  for  the 
Emperor, '  because  we  know  that  the  end  of  all  things  is  only  delayed 
by  the  continued  existence  of  the  Empire,'  when  he   states  that 
1  Caesar  is  more  ours  than  yours,  for  our  God  has  appointed  him ' 
(ib.  35),  we  see  in  germ  the  whole  theory  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire, 
and  of  much  of  the  logic  in  Dante's  De  Monarchia.     See  my  Dawn  of 
the  Reformation,  i  c.  2,  and  Bryce,  ERE  c.  7,  especially  p.  93  n. 

Of  early  writers  holding  this  view  note  St.  Paul  II  Then,  ii  5-7, 
where  *  that  which  restrains '  is  probably  the  Empire ;  Rom.  xiii  1-3 ; 
Tert.  ad  Scap.  2  (quoted  on  p.  194)  Athenag.  Plea  37 ;  Justin  M. 
I  Apol.  12,  '  We,  more  than  any  others,  are  great  helpers  and  allies 
in  promoting  peace.'  Apology  of  Melito  in  Euseb.  HE  iv.  26  (a 
remarkable  passage).  Augustine  Civ.  Dei  v  3,  6,  12.  Add  also  the 
passage  cited,  supra,  p.  168  n.,  from  the  Ep.  Diognetus. 

(3)  Without  any  formal  theory  of  relation  or  antagonism,  the  fact 
of  the  Empire  is  accepted,  and  its  value  as  a  factor  of  stability, 
universality,  &c.,  pointed  out.      So   Orig.  Ceh.  ii  30  (value  in  the 
spread  of   Christianity).     In  time  this  will  lead  to  the  universal 
dominion  of  the  Church,  Orig.  Gels,  viii  67-75. 


CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE 


This  table  deals  only  with  events  or  writings  directly  connected  with 
the  lecture.  Tliough  based  in  the  main  on  HarnacKs  CAL,  I  have  not 
hesitated  in  certain  cases  to  adopt  a  different  date.  Many  dates  are,  of 
course,  very  doubtful.  For  matters  connected  with  the  emperors  I  have 
relied  on  Bury  and  Schiller. 


?  Mar.  18,  29. 
Mar.  16,  37. 

Mar.  18,  37— Jan.  24,  41. 

Jan.  41— Oct.  54. 

44. 

c.  50. 

Oct.  54— June  9,  68. 
57. 

59. 

March,  60. 

Summer,  61. 

Late  autumn,  61. 

July  19,  64. 
Autumn,  64. 

Feb.  22  (?),  65. 
66-73. 

Summer,  68  (?). 
68-9. 

July  1,  69— June  23,  79. 
69. 


Crucifixion  of  Jesus  (DB  i  411-2). 

DEATH  OP  TIBERIUS. 

CAITJS  (Caligula)  emperor. 

CLAUDIUS  emperor. 

Execution  of  St.  James  (Zebedee). 

Banishment  of  Jews  and  Christians  from 

Eome. 

NERO  emperor. 
Arrest  of  St.  Paul  at  Jerusalem.    Trial  at 

Eome  of  Pomponia  Graecina. 
Recall  of  Felix.    Festus  sends  St.  Paul 

to  Borne. 

Arrival  of  St.  Paul  in  Rome. 
Death  of  Festus  ;  execution  of  St.  James. 
Trial  of  St.  Paul ;  his  release ;  arrival  of 

St.  Peter  in  Rome. 
Burning  of  Rome;    persecution    of    the 

Christiana.    Ep.  Peter  written. 
Martyrdom  of  St.  Peter.     Arrest  of  St. 

Paul. 

Martyrdom  of  St.  Paul. 
Wars  of  the  Jews  and  Romans. 
Jewish  Christians  retire  to  Pella. 
Galba,    Otho,    and    Vitellius    successive 

emperors. 

VESPASIAN  emperor. 
Birth  of  Polycarp. 


374 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE 


Before  Aug.  70. 
Aug.  70. 

June  23,79— Sept.  13,  81. 

Sept.  13,81— Sept.  18, 96. 

93-95  (?). 

94-5. 

o.  96  (?). 
Sept.  96— Jan.  27,  98. 

Jan.  27,  98— Aug.  117. 

99  (?). 

104. 

o.  Dec.  112. 

c.  115. 

115-20. 

Aug.  11,  117— July  138. 
120. 

124-5,  or  128-9. 

c.  130. 

130. 

132-5. 

c.  133. 

135-160. 

137. 

July  10, 138— Mar.  7, 161. 
138-9. 
c.  140. 

144. 
150-5. 
c.  151. 

Feb.  23, 155. 

155-60. 

159. 

Mar.  7, 161— Mar.  17, 180. 
160-70. 


Part  of  the  Apocalypse  written, 

Destruction  of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem. 

TITUS  emperor. 

DOMITIAN  emperor. 

Epistle  of  Clement  sent  from  Rome. 

Persecution  of  Domitian ;  persecution  of 

Clement  the  consul  and  Domitilla. 
Publication  of  the  Apocalypse  in  present 

form. 
NERVA  emperor ;  recall  of  those  banished 

by  Domitian. 
TRAJAN  emperor. 
Death  of  St.  John  at  Ephesus. 
Martyrdom  of  Symeon  of  Jerusalem. 
Correspondence  of  Pliny  and   Trajan  re 

Christians. 
Journey    and    martyrdom    of    Ignatius. 

Epistles  of  Ignatius,  Epistle  of  Polycarp. 
Annals  of  Tacitus  written. 
HADRIAN  emperor. 

Suetonius'  de  Vitis  Caesarum  written. 
Rescript  of  Hadrian  to  Minicius  Fundanus. 
Epistle  of  Barnabas. 
Aelia  Capitolina  founded. 
War  of  Bar-Kokheba. 
Justin's  conversion  to  Christianity. 
The  Didachf  written  in  the  recension  of 

the  MS.  of  Jerusalem. 
Martyrdom  of  Pope  Telesphorus  at  Rome. 
ANTONINUS  Pius  emperor. 
Marcion  comes  to  Rome  from  Pontus. 
The    Shepherd    of    Hermas    published. 

Irenaeus  born. 
Marcion's  schism. 
Birth  of  Tertullian. 
Justin's  J  Apology  published.    Hegesippus 

journeys  to  Rome. 
Martyrdom  of  Polycarp. 
Justin's  Dialogue  with  Trypho. 
Beginnings  of  Montanism. 
MARCUS  AURBLIUS  emperor. 
Acts  of  Paul  and  TJiekla  written. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE 


375 


c.  165. 

c.  170. 

169-176  (?). 

c.  175. 

174-89. 

176. 

176-80. 

177-80. 

177-8. 

Mar.  17, 180— Dec.  31, 

192. 

180-5. 

July  17, 180. 
c.  180. 

181-9. 
185. 

Ap.  13, 193-4  Feb.  211. 
197. 

198-202. 


202. 

Mar.  7,  203. 
c.  203. 

207. 
210. 

Feb.  4,211— Feb.  27, 21 2. 

Feb.  27,  212— Ap.  8,  217. 

211. 

212. 

Autumn  212. 
210-15. 

217/8—222/3. 

218. 

218— Mar.  10,  222. 


Martyrdom  of  Justin ;  self-immolation  of 

Proteus  Peregriuus. 
Dionysius  of  Corinth  writes. 
Apology  of  Melito  written. 
Death  of  Montanus. 
Hegesippus  writes  his  Hypomnemata. 
Commodus  joint  Caesar. 
Writings  of  Celsus. 
The  Plea  of  Athenagoras  written. 
Great  persecution  in  Lyons. 

COMMODUS  emperor. 

Martyrdom  of  Apollonius  in  Rome. 

The  martyrs  of  Scili. 

The  Gnostic  Gospels  and  Acts  of  Thomas 

written. 

Irenaeus  writes  his  adv.  Haeres. 
Birth  of  Origen. 
SEPTIMIUS  SEVERUS  emperor. 
Tertullian  writes  his  ad  Mart,  and   ad 

Nationes ;  also  his  Apology. 
Tertullian    writes    his    de    Spectac.;    de 

Praescript.;  adv.  Marc.;  de  Idol;  and 

ad  Uxor. 
Outbreak     of     the     persecution     under 

Severus. 

Martyrdom  of  Perpetua  and  Felicitas. 
Clement  of   Alexander  writes  his  Stro- 

mateis. 

Tertullian  joins  the  Montanists, 
Tertullian  writes  his  de  Pallio. 
CARAOALLA  and  GETA  emperors. 
CARAOALLA  sole  emperor. 
Tertullian  writes  his  de  Corona. 
Tertullian  writes  his  de  Fuga. 
Tertullian  writes  his  ad  t^capulam. 
Birth  of  Cyprian;    death  of  Clement  of 

Alexandria. 

Callistus  bishop  of  Rome. 
Origen  meets  Mamea  at  Antioch. 
ELAQABALUS  emperor. 


376 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE 


Mar.  10,  222— Mar.  19, 

235. 

222-3. 

Mar.  25,  235- Ap.  238. 

c.  235. 

Sept.  235. 

Mar.  244— Dec.  248. 

246. 

Ap.  21,  248. 

246-9. 
248-9. 

Dec.  248— Aug.  251. 
Jan.  250. 

Feb.  250— May  251. 

c.  Aug.  251— May  253. 

254. 

c.  Oct.  253— (?)  260. 

Aug.  257. 

End  of  July,  258. 

Sept.  14,  258. 

260— Mar.  20,  268. 

Autumn,  260. 

247-64. 

260-5. 

270— Aug.  (?)  275. 

270-5. 

272. 

274. 

Sept.  17, 284— May  1, 305. 
Ap.  1,  286. 

Mar.  1,  293. 

Feb.  23,  303. 
Nov.  20,  303. 

Winter,  304. 
July  25,  306. 


ALEXANDER  SEVERUS  emperor. 

Death  of  Tertullian. 

MAXIMIN  THRAX  emperor. 

Origen  writes  his  Exhortation  to  Martyrs. 

Bishop  Pontian  exiled  with  Hippolytus 

to  Sardinia. 

JULIUS  PHILIP,  the  Arab,  emperor. 
Baptism  of  Cyprian. 
The  1000th  anniversary  of  the  founding  of 

Eome ;  the  Secular  games. 
Origen  writes  his  work  against  Celsm. 
Cyprian  appointed  Bishop  of  Carthage. 
DECIUS  emperor. 
Great  persecution  commenced. 
Cyprian  in  exile. 

GALLUS  emperor ;  persecution  of  Gallus. 
Death  of  Origen  in  Tyre. 
VALERIAN  and  GALLIENUS  emperors. 
First  Rescript  of  Valerian. 
Second  Rescript  of  Valerian. 
Martyrdom  of  Cyprian. 
GALLIENCS    sole  emperor.     The  Thirty 

Tyrants. 

Edict  of  Toleration. 
Dionysius  bishop  of  Alexandria. 
Birth  of  Eusebius  of  Caesarea. 
AURELIAN  emperor. 
Death  of  Gregory  Thaumaturgus. 
Deposition  of  Paul  of  Samosata. 
Birth  of  Constantine  the  Great. 
DIOCLETIAN  emperor. 
Maximian  associated  with  Diocletian  as 

'  Augustus.' 
Association  of  Galerius  and  Constantius 

as  '  Caesars.' 

Outbreak  of  the  great  persecution. 
Diocletian's  triumph  (?  302)  and  Vicennalia 

at  Rome. 

Illness  of  Diocletian. 
Death  of  Constantius  at  York.    Elevation 

of  Constantine  as  '  Caesar.' 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE 


377 


Oct.  27,  306.    MAXENTIUB  declared  emperor  at  Rome. 
March  31  (?),  307.    Constantino  given  the  title  of  '  Augustus ' 

by  Maximian. 
Nov.  11,  307.     Licinius  (Licinian)  elevated  to  the  rank 

of  Augustus. 

Feb.  310.     Death  of  Maximian. 
Ap.  30,  311.    Galerius'  edict  of  Toleration. 
May  5,  311.    Death  of  Galerius.   Maximin  and  Licinian 

divide  his  dominions. 
Nov.  311.    Death  of  Peter  of  Alexandria. 
312-14.     Eusebius     concludes     his     Ecclesiastical 

History  and  Martyrs  of  Palestine. 
Oct.  27, 312.    Constantino  defeats   Maxentius   at    the 

Milvian  Bridge. 

Mar.  313.    Edict  of  Milan.    Death  of  Diocletian. 
Ap.  30, 313.    Licinian   defeats   Maximin    near  Adria- 

nople.     Death  of  Maximin  (?  Aug.). 
314-15.    Lactantius  writes  his  de  Mortibus  Perse- 

cutorum. 

Sept.  18,  323.     Constantino    finally   defeats  Licinian  at 
Chrysopolis.  CONSTANTINE  sole  emperor. 


INDEX 


This  index  is  in  the  main  restricted  to  names.  For  subjects  see 
"  Contents  "  of  each  chapter.  Authors  quoted,  &c.,  whether  ancient 
or  modern,  are  not  indexed  unless  some  criticism  or  account  is  given 
of  them.  The  names  of  martyrs  are  given  under  "  Martyr." 


Abyssinian  Church,  21  n 
Acts  of  Martyrs,  285  n 
Aelia  Capitolina,  122,  333  n 
Aesculapius,  74,  80  n,  97  n  3, 

135-8 

agapt,  71,  211  n 
Akmonia,  109  n 
Alee,  140,  308 
Alexamenos,  112  n,  288  n 
Alexander  of  Abonutichos,  134-6 
Alexander,  Pope,  260  n 
Alexander  the  coppersmith,  39 
Alexandria,  37  n,  241,  247-8 
'AAAoTpioeTriovcoTTOS,  139  n 
Anicetus,  307  n 
Annas,  11-13 
Anthony,  131 
Antinoiis,  92  n,  98-9 
Apocalypse,  46  n,  355-7 
apostoli,  33  n,  120 
Apuleius,  161 

Aristides,  216;  Apology  of,  116  n 
Aristion,  45  n,  122  n 
Armenia,  187  n,  270,  281 
Arrius  Antoninus,  227  n,  332 
Artemidorus,  21  n,  128  n 
Asiarchs,  95,  96  n 
Atheists,  88,  91  n,  92-4 
'Augustan  band,'  39  n 
Augustine,  86,  126  n 
Augustus,  worship  of,  c.  2  §  7 
Aurelian,  97  n,  257 


Bacchanalian  scandal,  76 
Barnabas  (Epistle),  59,  116  n 
Bithynia,  Christians  of,  210 
Burial  clubs,  261  n 


Caecilian,  273-4 

Caesar  of  Heisterbach,  133 

Callistus,  119,  147-8,  151-2,  229 

Caracalla,  235 

Catacombs,  257  ff 

Celsus,  7,  132,  155,  160  n,  179, 

184,  188,  189,  329 
Christian,  meaning  of,   53  n  3, 

58  n 
Christians,  tales  against,  119  n; 

slang  of,  166  n ;  names  of,  171 ; 

teachers  among,  173-4 ;  Greek 

of,  175  n ;   and  office,  178  ff, 

180  n;  and  the  army,  181  ff; 

and  politics,  191  ff 
Claudius  Herminianus,  144  n 
Clemens,  Flavius,  186  n,  204 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  175  n, 

237  n 

Clement  of  Rome,  83,  205-6,  259 
Clubs,  c.  2  §  3,  69  n 
cognitiones,  212  n 
Cornmodus,  228 
Constantino,  278-82 
Constantius,  271 
Cornelius,  Pope,  250 


INDEX 


379 


Cyprian,  133, 179, 247,253,  310  ff 


Damasus,  265  n 

Datian,  271 

Days  of  week,  82  n 

Daza :  see  Maximin 

Deacons,  211  n 

Decius,  242  ff 

delatio,  215 

Demons,  91, 127  ff,  129 

deportatio,  47  n,  64  n 

diaspora :  see  Jews 

Diocletian,  136,  265  ff 

Diognetus,  Epistle  of,  117,  168-9 

Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  90, 134, 

247-8,  253 

Dionyeius  of  Corinth  360 
DM,  147 
Domitian,    47,    96-7,    123,   128, 

203-7 

Domitilla,  83,  205 
Druidism,  77-8 


Ebionites,  122,  153 

Elagabalus,  238 

Elvira,  151  n,  162  n,  175  n,  180  n 

Empire,  causes  of  fall,  177  n 

Etecusa,  246  n 

Euctemon,  342 

Exorcists,  131-2 


Fabian,  Pope,  235,  240  n,  241  n, 

244  n 

Faustina,  98  n 
Felix,  32 

Felix  of  Autumni,  273-4 
Festivals,  outbreaks  at,  102  n 
Festus,  27  n,  33 
Fontane,  Tre,  40  n 
Fronto  of  Cirta,  157  n 


Galerius,  191  n,  268  ff 
Gallienus,  251,  256 
Gaudentius,  55  n 
Glabrio,  204 


Gnosticism,  8, 363 
Graecina,  Pomponia,  41  n,  60 
Gregory  Thaumaturgus,    41    n, 

133-4,  248,  345 
Gregory  the  Great,  175  n 


Hadrian,  215  ff 

Hermas,  Shepherd  of,  151  n,  219 

n  3,  221 

Herod,  Agrippa,  17 
Hierocles,  160  n,  268-9 
Hippolytus,  Canons  of,  173 
Hippolytus  of  Portus,  119,  148 
Horos,  8 


Irenaeus,  295  n,  310 
Isis,  77,  81-2 


James,  St.,  13  n,  26-8 

James,  Ascents  of,  26  n 

James,  St.  (Zebedee),  25 

Jerusalem,  fall  of,  109-10 

Jesus,  10  n,  c.  1  §  2 

Jewish  Christians,  29,  46,  120  ff 

Jews,  51,  56,  107,  108  ff,  111-2, 
113,  115  ff,  157  n 

Jews  and  Christians  distin- 
guished, 58-9,  118 

John,  Acts  of,  48  n 

John,  St.,  26,  45-8,  206  n,  358  f 

Jude,  grandsons  of,  123 

Justin  Martyr,  227  n,  287  n,  327, 
346 


Kempis,  Thomas  a,  22  n 
Kiss  of  peace,  158 


Lanuvium,  99 
libelli,  340  ff 
Libertini,  24  n 
Licinian,  187  n,  278,  282 
Lucian :  see  Proteus  Peregrinus 
Lucina,  41,  61  n,  262  n 
Lucius,  Pope,  250 


380 


INDEX 


Lyons,  96  n,  160,  227  n,  293  n, 
295  ff 


Macrianua,  134,  252 

Macrobius,  127  n 

Madaura,  227  n 

Maecenas,  89 

Magic,  Christians  and,  c.  Ill  §  2 

maguterianus,  302  n 

majestas,  14-5,  19,  101  n 

Mamaea,  239 

Mandaeans,  58  n,  122 

ftdprvs,  345  n 

Marcellinus,  Pope,  342  n 

Marcia,  228,  229  n 

Marcion,  117 

Marcus  Aurelius,  112, 129,  222  ff 

Maron,  99  n 

Marriage,  Christians  and,  140-1, 

147-8 

Martin  of  Tours,  9,  130 
Martyrs,  cases  of — 

Abdon,  246 

Achatius,  132,  330 

Afra,  321 

Agathonice,  328 

Agnes,  302  n 

Alban,  271-2 

Alexander,  249,  260  n 

Alphaeus,  191  n 

Anteros,  240  n 

Antipas,  97 

Apollonia,  291 

Apollonius,  180  n,  218  n,  299  n 

Asclepiades,  237  n,  297 

Attalus,  104  n 

Bab  /las,  157,  249,  329 

Bibfias,  341 

Blandina,  295  n,  349 

Caecilia,  227  n 

Callistra'  -is,  333 

Calocerr.j,  246,  298 

Carpus,  227  n,  328 

Cassian,  174 

Claudius,  298  n,  330 

Conon,  119,  124 

Cyprian,  310  ff 

Cyril,  255  n 


Martyrs,  cases  of  (continued) — 
Dasius,  183, 
Dativus,  143,  327 
Dionysia,  321 
Dioscuros,  247 
Dorotheus,  266,  269 
Eulalia,  328 
Euplius,  275 
Fabian,  244  n,  245 
Febronia,  196 
Felicitas,  102  n,  313  ff 
Felicitas,  237  n,  320 
Felix  of  Tibjuca,  275 
Flavian,  324 
Fructuosus,  325 
Genesius,  288-90 
Germanicus,  307 
Gorgonius,  266,  269 
Guddene,  237  n 
Hermes,  275 
Hippolytus,  240 
Ignatius,  306,  325,  335  ff 
Irenaeus  of  Lyons,  237  n 
Irenaeus    of    Sirmium,     320, 

334-5 
Irene,  143 

James  of  Cirta,  323  n,  324,  328 
Januarius,  320  n 
Julian,  247,  295  n 
Julitta,  298 
Julius,  78 
Justin,  327 
Lawrence,  255 
Leonid  es,  237 
Leo  of  Patara,  162-3 
Lucian  of  Antioch,  142,  332 
Lyons,  martyrs  of,  295  ff 
Marianus,  322,  323  n,  324 
Maura,  334  n 
Mavilus,  237  n 
Maximilian,  185-6,  335 
Maximus,  196,  330 
Montanus,  324  n 
Natalis,  237  n 
Nestor,  334 
Nicander,  334 
Origen,  248,  319 
Papylus,  180  n 
Parthenius,  246 


INDEX 


381 


Martyrs,  cases  of  (continued) — 

Perpetua,  102  n,  313  ff,  319, 
322 

Phileasof  Thmuis,  291. 319-20. 
328 

Phocas,  212  n 

Pionius,  292,  297  ff,  333,  342 

Pollio,  142 

Polycarp,  102  n,  297,  306  ff, 
a26 

Pontian,  240 

Potamiaena,  302,  325,  346  n 

Pothinus,  295 

Probus,  304  n 

Ptolemy,  144 

Quartillosia,  323 

Quatuor  Coronati,  137  n 

Quintus,  340 

Sabina,  152  n,  297 

Sanctus,  300 

Saturninus,  323,  328 

Saturus,  316-17,  323 

Scili,  martyrs  of,  193,  327 

Sebaste,  Forty  of,  186  n,  188  n 

Sennen, 246 

Sirmium,  masons  of,  136 

Symeon,  123-4 

Symphorian,  162 

Symphorosa,  320  n 

Kenus,  324 

Romanus,  163 

Tarachus,  285  n,  301  n,  330-1 

Tarsicius,  157  n 

Telesphorus,  219  n 

Thalelaeus,  219  n 

Theodora,  302 

Theodore,  163-4 

Theodulus,  295  n 

Theonilla,  301  n 

Ursula,  200  n 

Vettius  Epagathus,  104  n,  296 

Xystus,  253  n,  254 

Zacchaeus.  191  n 
Maxentius,  278,  281 
Maximin  Daza,  277  ff 
Maximin  Thrax,  240 
Melitene,  189  n,  270 
Mensurius,  273 
Milan,  decree  of,  282 


Minucius  Felix,  221  n 
Minucius  Fundanus,  217 
Mithraism,  c.  2  §  5,  81  n,  84,  ICO, 

171  n,  184 
"monarchy,"  93-4 
Montanism,   154,   181  n,  305  n, 

343  n 
Mother,  Great,  77, 160 


Name,"  "The,  40,55  n,  104 

ve'joi(6pos,  97  n 

Nero,  53-4,  133, 202,  285-6,  364 

Nersae,  85 

"New  people,"  190 

Nicomedeia,  68,  267,  282 

Numeria,  246 


Origen,  248,  294 


Pachomius,  9 

Pagan,  meaning  of,  234  a 

irapoiKovvres,  103  n 

Parousian  beliefs,  23,  53  n  4,  153 

ff,  232-3 

patria  potestas,  145 
Paul  of  Samosata,  257 
Paul,  St.,  30-5,  36-42,  43,  138-9 

149,  262,  362-4 
Paul,  St.  (dates  of),  33  n,  34  n, 

38  n,  48  n,  57 
Peregrinus    Proteus,    136,    155, 

176,  293,  331,  345,  346 
Perpetua  (handkerchief  of),  41  n, 
Perpetua :  see  Martyrs 
Peter,  Acte  of,  43  n 
Peter,  Gospel  of,  19  n 
Peter  of  Alexandria,  340  n,  362  f 
Peter,  St.,  42-5,  262,  354-5 
Petronilla,  204  n 
Philip  of  Trales,  309 
Philip  the  Arab,  241  ff 
Pilate,  13-20 

Pilate,  Acts  of,  18  n,  20  n,  21  n 
Pius  (Antouinus),  220-1 
Pius,  Pope,  151 
Pliny,  209  ff 


382 


INDEX 


Pompeji,  24  n 
Pontus,  Christians  of,  210 
Popes,  martyrdom  of,  22  n 
Poppaea,  34  n,  38,  57,  98  n  3, 

115 

Porphyry,  94,  159,  160  n 
Pothinus,  37 
Praetorium,  35  n 
Prophets,  154  n,  155  n 
Prosenes,  229 
Pudens  (magistrate),  214 


Quadratus,  216,  369 


Readers,  142  n 
relegatio,  47  n 
Borne,  Church  at,  37  n 
Rome,  fire  of,  53-4 


Sacramentum,  211  n 

Sardinia,  300 

Secular  games,  88,  242 

Servianus,  217 

Severus  Alexander,  238  ff 

Severus    Septimius,    69,    71 

235  ff 

Sibylline  Oracles,  154  n,  194 
Simon  Magus,  128  n 
Sirmium,  masons  of,  136  ff 


Slavery,  Christianity  and,  149  ff 
Smyrna,  97  n 
Soldiers  and  Mithra,  84 
Soldiers  and  Christianity,  181  ff 
Spain,  St.  Paul  and,  35,  36  n 
Stephen,  St.,  24 
Stephen,  Pope,  253  n 
Superstition  and  Christianity,  c. 

3§2 
Syncretism,  86 


Taurobolium,  160 

Teachers,  144  n 

Tertullian,    146,    171-2,    178-9, 

181  n 

TheMa,  Acts  of,  102  n,  140  n,  140-2 
Theotecnus,  277,  280 
"Third  Race,"  158n,  190,  217  n 
Thundering  Legion,  186 
titulus,  20 
Trajan,  209  ff 
Tyre,  280 


Valeria,  266 
Valerian,  134,  251  ff 
Victor,  Pope,  235  n,  295  n 


Zephyrinus,  2GO 


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